True & Tainted Series: True Skill
by Top Shotta-Xailing
Summary: Redux of my True and Tainted series. Becoming good friends with your new neighbours always leads to a summer full of adventure and shenanigans. Blade breakers Meet the Sweet and Sour Candies and prepare yourself. Rated for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Hilary, Max, Daichi, Tyson and Kenny all pressed their faces to the window as they watched the movers pulled boxes after boxes into the dojo style house next door. The five curious teens watched with great intrigue as they wondered who could possibly be the new neighbours.

From the couch, Ray, Hiro and Kai watched the others, shaking their heads at their nosiness.

"Do ya think they beyblade?" Daichi asked as he watched one of the movers picked up a box marked; Toni's clothes. "Sheesh, that Toni guy has alotta clothes..."

"No," Hilary said, "It's spelt T-O-N-_I_. Which means Toni is a girl,"

"Or possibly a gender confused dude," Max joked.

"Bleck!" Tyson snorted, "I hope it's a girl, there aren't many decent ones around here,"

Hilary narrowed her big brown eyes at the navy hair boy and swiftly collided her knuckle against the side of his head. "And what the hell was that suppose to mean!"

Tyson gritted his teeth together as he rubbed his injured skull, "It means you're a hideous byotch!"

Daichi and Kenny could have sworn Hilary's eyes flash red as she went in to choke Tyson. Luckily the navy haired blader pulled away in time to dodge her and run out of the living room. Filled with rage and an undying need to strike Tyson, Hilary bolted after him, causing the others by the window to shake their heads.

"I swear. Those two fight like a cat and a dog," Kenny remarked.

"You know what they say, when a boy likes a girl he always tends to provoke her," Max said with a wink, then nudged Kenny in his side.

Kenny laughed, but it was Kai who responded to Max's statement.

"That's a bit infantile, don't you think?" the elder blader commented as he folded his arms over his muscular chest.

"I kind of agree with him," Ray stated as he ran his fingers though his long ebony bangs, "I don't think Hilary and Tyson fight because of affection,"

"I don't, you know guys. I mean, it's been like this since they met," Hiro smirked as he leaned back into the couch, placing his hands behind his head.

"All the more reason to believe that maybe they just don't get along," Ray chuckled, "If they were into each other, it would've happened by now, don't you think?"

Hiro shrugged while a hint of a sneer played across Kai's face. This caused Ray to laugh again. How did watching the new neighbours turn into a conversation about Hilary and Tyson's possible feelings for one another.

"Hey look! I think I see one of our neighbours!" Daichi yelled, causing Max and Kenny to cover his mouth.

"Quiet Daichi! We're only a few metres away! They'll hear us and know we're watching!"

The redhead broke free from the blonde blader and brunette beyblade engineer and snorted, "So!"

"Just be quiet," Max ordered as he and Kenny continued to watch the events in the lot next to theirs.

Two stern looking girls stood on the side walk. Their voices were muffled but the blade breakers that were watching them could tell that they were telling the movers where to bring the next few boxes.

One of the girls were very slender but you could see the muscle definition in her long, pale-bronze coloured arms and calves. Her hair was short from what they could tell and due to the texture; they figured she was of afro-American descent or something along those lines.

Her curly dark brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and when she turned her head slightly to the right, they could tell that her eyes were a maroon colour.

She was wearing a simple dark purple tank top with an oversized belt around her thin waist, a pair of dark jean Capri pants and airbrushed slip on sneakers.

The other girl was a bit thicker in body structure but once again, she had muscle definition. Her hair was abnormally long and black, also pulled back into a tight, high ponytail. Her skin was peachy and she wore a black tank top with a mesh long sleeve shirt over it. Her jeans as well were black and fitted and she wore long black boots that reached just below her knees. They seemed to be made out of some sort of shiny material, maybe leather or pleather, maybe even plastic.

The two girls looked like complete opposites, in style at least, but looks could be deceiving.

"Maybe we should go out and meet them," Kenny suggested.

"I don't know. They look like they'd eat us alive... or spank us if we're naughty," Hiro remarked, causing Daichi, Kenny and Max to nearly jump out of their skin. Ray and Hiro were now looking out the window staring at the new neighbours as well. "Although... I wouldn't quite mind the last part,"

Ray chuckled, "That's just sick,"

Kai remained on the couch as he rolled his eyes at this team mates. There could be better things to be done; they all could be keeping their blading skills in shape instead of gawking at the new neighbours.

Annoyed with his team mates' antics, Kai got to is feet and headed for the kitchen. Maybe he'd have a light snack before going in the back and training.  
>-<p>

The slate haired teen waltz in the kitchen to find Tyson holding Hilary by her wrists and taunting her. Saying how weak she was for not being able to break free of such a simple hold. The fiery brunette's cheeks went a light red from frustration as she did the unthinkable and brought her knee up to meet Tyson's crotch.

The darker skinned male crumbled to his knees and released his hold on Hilary instantly as he rolled about on the floor in pain. Kai cringed slightly but paid them no mind, Tyson deserved it. He always asked for stuff like that when he provoked Hilary.

Honestly, Kai didn't even really like the fact that Tyson was constantly putting Hilary down. Sure they had known each other for quite some time but cut the girl some slack. She was a pretty decent vice-captain, even though she couldn't blade to save her life, which was usually a needed skill around a group such as themselves.

The slate haired captain pulled open the refrigerator, capturing the brunette girl's attention.

"Oh!" she gasped from surprised. Hilary tucked some loose strands or her chocolate locks behind her ear then started to fumble and play with her fingers, "D-Didn't notice you were there," she said, her voice sounding so timid and small.

"Fn," he grunted in response. He couldn't understand why she always spoke like that to him. Sure, she spoke to him and the other blade breaker members, all except for Tyson, with respect but her tone was always significantly different with him. Like she was frightened of him or something.

After three years of knowing him, he would have thought she would ease up with the frightened little girl act but whatever. If she wanted to act that way, that was her business.

"What are you eating?" she asked, walking up behind him but keeping a fair distance away.

Kai shrugged, "Haven't decided on it," which was true. He wanted something filling but not fattening. As 'woman-ish' as it seemed to him, eating healthy really helped with the teams energy, efficiency and overall well being and that was all thanks to the brunette behind him.

"I-I could make you something if you'd like. I was going to make a snack anyway and possibly something for the neighbours next door. You know, as a welcome to the neighbourhood sort of thing,"

"You don't even live in this neighbourhood," Tyson murmured from on the floor.

Hilary instantly spun around and kicked him in the knee cap, causing him to roll around on the floor once again in pain, "Why don't you shut your big mouth! I'm _trying_ to be courteous!"

"By poisoning them!"

That earned him another well deserved kick in the knee.

Kai rolled his eyes but told Hilary that if she wanted to trouble herself into making him something to eat that was her business and that he'd be out in the backyard training. As he walked by Tyson he grabbed him by his ponytail roughly before sliding open the door to the backyard.

"Instead of provoking our vice-captain with your wise cracks, why don't you get your fat ass in gear and train? I'm sure your skills are lacking. I haven't see you pick Dragoon up in over a month." And with that the cold captain was out the door.

Hilary stared at the door; she could feel her cheeks getting hot. She quickly turned back around to hide the fact that she was blushing. She smiled to herself. He stood up for her...

The matter of the fact was that Hilary had developed an intense admiration for Kai. When she had first seen his picture, she had thought he was cute. After meeting him, she wasn't too sure if she really would date a guy like him but as the years passed by she had learned that under that regularly rough exterior, Kai was a pretty compassionate and caring person, no matter how much he tried hiding it.

There had even been an account where he had saved her life and from then on, Hilary knew she wanted to be with Kai... or at least date him, but he probably thought of her as a sister, or just a good friend, like the other blade breakers did and vice versa.

With a sigh, Hilary made her way around the kitchen and began to prepare something for everyone to eat.

Tyson finally peeled himself off the ground, walking up to where Hilary was standing as he rubbed the back of his head. Kai had pulled his ponytail really hard and it hurt beyond all belief but there was nothing he could do. Not like he could take Kai on.

"You makin' something for me too?" Tyson asked as he leaned over the counter to watch Hilary chop tomatoes.

"No," she said bluntly then continued to chop.

Tyson groaned, "Oh come on! Is it because of the hideous thing? I was _joking_!" he whined but Hilary ignored him.

Noticing that, Tyson straightened up and grabbed Hiro's car keys from the bowl on the counter.

"Fine. I'll buy myself some food since you're going to be such a bitch," Tyson remarked as he began to walk away, not before leave a hard slap against Hilary's backside then running out of the kitchen like his life depended on it... since it probably did.

"UGH! TYSON!" Hilary screeched as she chased after the blue haired blader.  
>-<p>

Kai pulled his ripcord with extreme force, sending Dranzer out in a fiery blaze. He hit the dish with a loud crash that sent sparks flying up from the impact. Kai and his bit beast took a moment to sync up before Kai began performing perfectly executed martial art moves that Ray had taught him.

Dranzer moved to the same rhythm as Kai, meaning that their sync was still perfect and that every attack Kai executed, Dranzer would move to match it.

Although Kai was pleased with all this, he still felt that he and Dranzer could improve. He was currently regretting that there wasn't anyone within a mile radius that would battle him. The slate haired captain grunted as he sent a flying kick to his invisible enemy.

Kai continued to train, unknowing that he was being watched. Three of his new neighbours were standing on boxes in their backyard, watching him over the tall wooden fences that separated their two yards.

One girl had fair peachy skin. If Kai had noticed; he could probably tell that she was American, hailing from one of the northern states. Her hair was medium length, reaching just below her shoulders, done in a sort of Farrah Fawcett/ Charlie's Angels sort of style but slightly messier. Her hair was raw umber brown with sandy blonde highlights.

Her eyes were big, brown and curious.

The two girls next to her were also of Afro-American descent like the girl the rest of the blade breakers spotted at the front of the house.

The one on the peachy skinned girl's left, had big eyes quite like hers, but hers were a piercing blue. Her hair was light brown and went surprisingly well with her sienna brown coloured skin. Her brown hair was braided into two pigtails that were looped together to form two large braided rings slightly behind her head.

The last girl, on the right, had caramel-copper coloured skin. Her eyes were emerald green and had hair that went on for days, all pulled back into a long braided ponytail.

"Look at that. Just sheer perfection! The body, the execution..." the girl with the green eyes stated as she stared in awe.

The other girls agreed.

"Mr. Hot shit!" the girl with the blue eyes smirked with her brunette and peachy skinned friend.

"No. I mean the blade! God, it's a friggin' masterpiece!"

The two other girls turned to their friend with dumbfounded, questioning and slightly shocked expressions.

"Are you retarded?" The girl with the blue eyes questioned as she shook her head, "All that fine piece of man and you're lookin' at the beyblade. Damn Kierra! I love beyblades too but shit. You's just whack,"

The brunette in the middle just shook her head, "Do you even know who that is!"

The girl known as Kierra turned to them, "Duh! Of course I do. The deep blue blade with four perfectly crafted attack spikes! It's gotta be Kai Hiwatari,"

"Wow. She does know something other than blades," the blue eyed girl on the left murmured as they all returned to watch Kai work.

"If Kai Hiwatari is our neighbour, do you think the rest of the blade breakers live here?" the girl with the peachy skinned asked.

The other girls shrugged.

"I dunno. But I hope so!"

* * *

><p>Max and Daichi had decided to tag along with Tyson to get some fast food. Although they knew Hilary was making something for them, they wanted a little something before hand. They were all growing boys, so it wasn't odd that they were constantly eating but the three of them sure could put away a lot of food.<p>

"Hey, do you think the new neighbours are still outside?" Max asked, his mouth filled to the brim with the burger meal he had ordered.

Tyson took a long and deep gulp from his soda before answering that he wasn't sure. As they turned onto their street, Tyson slowed down. He maintained a decent speed but not one that looked too suspicious.

The boys kept their gaze casually to the left side of their street, making sure that they were able to get a good look at their neighbours. As they pulled into the dojo's long driveway, they noticed that the young woman in the purple tank top had disappeared and two others had taken her place.

The American, ebony haired girl from earlier was still there and they could finally see that her eyes were a stony blue. The girl closest to her was very tall and thin. Her arms and legs were fit and every long but although she seemed a bit gauntly her hips had amazing shape.

Her skin was chocolate brown and her eyes were large and lavender purple. Her hair was long as well. It reached the middle of her back and was jet black with bright red ends.

Her clothing was very mismatched in colour. She wore a cat eared shaped hat that was white. A pale yellow t-shirt and a fuchsia half jacket with red trimmings around the collar and sleeve ends. She also wore a short black flared skirt with electric blue lace trimming, socks that reached the middle of her thigh and solid black Chuck Taylor's.

The other girl had russet coloured skin and forest green eyes that looked distant and slightly mean. She was much shorter than her two friends, no more than five foot three inches. Her hair was chestnut brown and short, done in a spiked pixie cut.

She wore a long black lacy tank top and a wine red short corset that only reached from just above her hips to right under her breasts. She had on skinny jeans that were a deep black in colour and a pair of simple black flats.

As the girl they had spotted earlier ordered around the movers the two new girls glanced in the boys' direction. The taller girl blushed, looked down at her feet and waved, while the shortest of the three looked them all up and down once then turned away.

The boys waved back.

"They're pretty hot," Tyson whispered through a cheerful grin.

"Yeah," Max agreed, "Maybe we should go meet our neighbours, you know. When Hilary comes out with her 'welcome to the neighbour' snacks."

"Fine idea Max," Tyson smirked as he smacked his blonde friend on the back as he Daichi and Max returned to the inside of the dojo.

* * *

><p>After Hilary had given Kai his snack, he declined the offer to come next door to meet the new neighbours but Ray and Hiro had talked him into coming anyway. They told him that he had to stay for the minimum of ten minutes so the cold captain began counting down the seconds as soon as they all had reached the front door.<p>

All their neighbours were currently inside as the last of their boxes were brought in. The door was wide open but out of common courtesy, Hilary rang the bell and waited to be greeted.

Moments passed but almost simultaneously, seven sets of curious and/or slightly annoyed eyes began to gawk at them from three different rooms.

The seven girls emerge from their current quarters and formed a group just before stopping just short of the door.

Hilary put on her most cheery smile as she said; "Hi, I'm Hilary Tachibana," One by one, she introduced the boys. Using her right hand to point to each one as she spoke their name, while balancing a pan of cupcakes in the other.

"This is Tyson and Hiro Kinomiya. They actually own the dojo next to you. This is Max Mizuhara, Daichi Sumeragi, Kenny Saien, Ray Kon and Kai Hiwatari,"

The boys all smiled, except for Kai of course then spoke their hellos. At first the girls in the house just looks at one another as if not sure what to do.

Finally one of them stepped forward. It was one of the first girls they had seen. The one with the purple tank top and curly hair, "What it do?" she greeted.

She didn't hold out her hand for any of them to shake, she just gave a subtle head nod, letting them know she was saying hello back. If she hadn't they all probably would've stood there wondering what she meant by 'What it do'.

"I'm J-Dymez," Following suit of Hilary, she introduced the rest of her household. She first pointed to the girl with the long black hair and green eyes, "That there is my cousin Kierra," she then pointed to the tall lanky girl then the blue eyed one that was eyeing the cupcakes, "That's Naomi and Torah,"

She then turned to her other side to introduce the last three, "Shawty in the front, that's Toni," she pointed to the one that was the shortest of the group. She then pointed to the girl with the stone blue eyes and lastly the girl with the Charlie's Angels hair style, "that's Kat and this is Tiky,"

All the girls except Toni, J-Dymez and Kat smiled as they waved to their new neighbours.

"They brought cupcakes!" the girl known as Tiky beamed, graciously taking the pan from Hilary. She and the girl known as Torah eyed them as they pushed passed the others towards the kitchen.

One by one, J-Dymez, Toni, Kat, and Kierra followed them, leaving Naomi behind with their guest.

She stood there in the doorway, just fidgeting. She kept switching her weight from foot to foot while biting her lip. Kai stared at her as she continued to do this; it reminded him of the way Hilary acted towards him, very timid. This Naomi girl seemed like the passive, quiet type. Very easy going... someone that was easily embarrassed or had their feelings hurt.

"Um... I suppose you can come in then," she said. Her tone of voice was nearly a whisper.

"That would be lovely," Hilary smiled as she and the rest of the blade breakers followed her into the house.

* * *

><p>They were all in the kitchen now, taking seats wherever available. Chairs, boxes, kitchen counters. Wherever. Pretty much everyone had found a place to sit except Kat, J-Dymez, Kai, Hiro and Ray, who all chose to stand but leaned lazily against something.<p>

"Bitchin' cupcakes," Torah remarked as she smiled at Hilary, giving her a thumbs up.

"Thank you," Hilary smiled back, thoroughly pleased that her cupcakes had been enjoyed, even though it was Torah and Tiky who had eaten most of them.

"What brings you to Tokyo? I can tell you aren't from around here," Hiro said, there had been a lengthy awkward silence so he decided to break the ice.

J-Dymez looked him up and down before stating that they were visiting a family member, which ended up leading to the obvious question of if they were all related in one way or another.

Most of the girls laughed while some merely smiled at the shocked expressions that had fell across the blade breakers faces.

"Hardly," Kat remarked as if she had heard the most ridiculous thing in the world, "It's Naomi and Torah's relative. She's the one that put us up in this house, said it wasn't good for her family to be staying in hotels. Be them five stars or not. So the label she works for bought us the place,"

"Incredible," Kenny whistle as he adjusted his glasses, "You're cousin must work for some really big company to buy a house big enough to house seven young women,"

Torah and Naomi nodded.

"Yeah, she's pretty loaded," Torah smirked as she glanced at her sister. Naomi in returned covered the lower half of her faces with her hands as she began to giggle.

This caused the blade breakers to cock their eyebrows and give looks of curiosity.

"Just who is you're cousin?" Hiro asked.

"Ming-Ming..."

The room went completely silent except for Naomi and Torah's faint giggling and Kenny hitting the floor as he fainted.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

J-Dymez handed a bottle of water over to Hiro for Kenny to drink. They had picked the short blade engineer off the ground and were currently fanning him, trying to bring him back to his senses. He seemed to be okay, but he just kept mumble-stuttering Ming-Ming's name.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Tiky asked as she stared at Kenny.

"He'll be fine," Daichi answered, rolling his eyes. The redheaded blader was never a fan of Ming-Ming. In fact he couldn't stand her and it bothered him that Kenny was so in love with her. She was so shallow and fake. The only thing Daichi commended her on was her blading skills.

"He didn't hit his head or anything, did he? Maybe we should take him to the hospital. What if he has a concussion?" Naomi began, going into a panicky sort of ramble. If Ray hadn't place his hand on her shoulder, saying that Kenny was going to be fine and didn't need medical attention, she probably would've kept speaking until everyone got fed up and brought the poor boy to the hospital.

Naomi nodded as she quickly turned away blushing, slightly embarrassed by her own actions.

Once Kenny had regained his senses, he accepted the water bottle from Hiro and took a lengthy drink from it. His throat was suddenly dry and the water was just what he needed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Toni asked, receiving a nod from Kenny.

"Yes. I'm fine. Just didn't expect a surprise quite like that,"

"That was pretty obvious,"

Everyone couldn't help but chuckle a little. The whole thing had played out so randomly that it was just amusing.

Hiro and Tyson helped Kenny back into his seat. Once doing so, they returned to their spots to continue on with their conversation with their new neighbours, keeping a steady eye on Kenny, just in case.

"I would have never known you were her relatives," Hiro said, turning to Torah and Naomi.

The girls looked at him, with a hint of inquiring showing in their expressions.

"How come?" Torah shot back, "My mom always says how we look a little alike," she rolled her big blue eyes as she said this, "She says there's no denyin' that we're related,"

Hiro paused. He wasn't sure how to reply to that but he didn't have to. Kai had suddenly become interested in the conversation but made his way into it in a rather rude manner.

"It's hard to believe a shell like Ming-Ming actually has relatives,"

Silence fell over the Blade breakers as they all turned to Kai with shocked expressions. As much as they were thinking it, they just couldn't believe he actually said it, and to Ming-Ming's cousins no doubt.

But much to all of the Blade breakers surprise, Torah just shrugged.

"I know. Ming-Ming ain't the greatest and she's about as deep as a puddle on a sidewalk but..."

"But she's still family," Naomi stepped in, finishing her sister's sentence, "And it was very kind of her to buy us the house..."

"I would've just let them stay in a hotel," Kat remarked from her position against the counter.

"Well, I guess that means you aren't much of a friend..."

The group all turned to look at the slate haired captain with shock. Everyone was certain that Kat had probably been joking but the way Kai had snapped back with such an accusing tone made everyone pause.

The Blade breakers were especially stunned. Kai was never the one to speak of such things as friendship, so him sounding offended by Kat's comment had caught them all off guard. Little did they know that was going to be the least of their worries.

Kat narrowed her eyes at Kai then pushed herself off of the counter to stand upright. She walked bold steps, stopping only a foot away from Kai. Her stone blue eyes were staring daggers into his Byzantium purple ones.

Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath as they watched the silent showdown. Hiro and Ray slapped their hands to their foreheads while J-Dymez and the girls stayed eerily still; they're bodies solid from tension.

"Well, we'll never be allowed here again..." Ray mumbled, glancing as Hiro, who sighed.

"I was starting to like our new neighbours too..." The blue haired twenty year old responded.

For what seemed like an eternity, Kai and Kat merely just stared each other down. Sending cold glares back and forth, with no visible sign of stopping. The Blade breakers were ready to apologize for Kai's out of hand actions but once realizing that the girls had eased up, they hesitated in speaking.

Toni and J-Dymez turned to each other and smirked. Tiky, Kierra and Torah smiled while Naomi groaned sadly as she brought her knees up to her chest and hid her face against them.

"You're not half bad, Hiwatari. And here I thought you'd be a stuck up little priss," Kat said as she backed off with a smirk. She folded her arms lazily as Kai stared back at her with an expressionless face.

He wasn't going to show if facially but he was standing there wondering just what the hell was going on.

"You guys are a lot cooler than we expected to be. Most of the famous people we've seen since we've been here are stuck up," Toni remarked as she walked up beside Kat.

Tiky squealed irritably loud as she clapped with joy, "Does that mean the Blade breakers are our friends?"

Kai and the others cocked an eyebrow at the girls as they all began to smile, waiting on the answer.

"That all depends..." Kai began, making everyone in the kitchen look at him with curiosity, "Do you blade,"

The girls all smirked, even the timid one.

J-Dymez stepped forward, walking with extreme confidence and attitude as she placed her hands on her hips, "I thought you'd never ask..."

* * *

><p>Since the girls didn't have a beyblade dish set up anywhere, the Blade breakers had invited them over to their house for a friendly match.<p>

Although it had been Kai's idea, he allowed Tyson to take part in the match. The slate haired blader wanted to see what the girls had in their arsenal before bringing out what he had in his.

"So, which one of you girls are brave enough to face the world Champ," Tyson smirked as he bounced Dragoon up and down, in the palm of his hand.

Kat was about to step forward when Toni placed a hand in front of her, suggesting that she'd go instead. The girls looked at each other and in a silent agreement, Kat let Toni battle.

The short, dark skinned girl stepped over to Tyson, pride and confidence oozing from her very being. Although Tyson was at least five inches taller than she was, that didn't stop her from metaphorically looking down on him.

"World Champ eh?" She ran her pointing finger from Tyson's collar bone, down to the middle of his chest before continuing, "I know you're one of the greatest bladers whose ever lived but I'm goin' to make you eat those words,"

She looked up at him with a smirk, which caused Tyson to smirk back.

"Flirting with me won't make me go easy on you,"

Toni's expression flashed surprised before she grabbed Tyson by his shirt collar and pulled him down to her level, "Don't flatter yourself," and with that, she released him.

Taken aback, Tyson stumbled a few paces before regaining his footing. The Navy hair blader smirked again as he loaded Dragoon into his launcher. He then took his position on the far right end of the battling dish.

Toni smirked as she motioned to Tiky to bring over the case she was holding. With a playful smile, the American girl skipped over to her friend and opened the case for her. Toni pulled out something that sort of looked like a kick boxer's glove. She slid her right hand into it and made a fist, ready for battle.

The glove was Burgundy with S.S.C stitched in yellowy-bronze lettering. It was a little too large to be a regular glove, and that's when the Blade breakers noticed that it was her launcher.

Toni then pulled out a beyblade that was almost the same wine red as her corset and yellow-bronze. She held it to the light, letting the metal shine in the sunlight.

The Blade breakers couldn't help but stare in awe. Toni's blade was pretty magnificent.

"What great craftsmanship!" Kenny said, adjusting his glasses as he stared at the blade.

"Thanks," Kierra and Torah said in unison.

"You're Blade engineers?"

Torah snorted, "Yeah!"

"I know... hard to believe someone as hot as me does such things," Kierra remarked as she struck a superhero-y sort of pose.

"Shut up Kierra..." J-Dymez grunted as she smacked her cousin in the back of her head.

"Enough talking!" Toni bellowed. She loaded her blade into her glove shooter, aimed and smirked at her opponent, "Let's Beyblade,"

"Don't cry when I beat you alright?" Tyson remarked as he prepared to launch Dragoon.

Hilary and Tiky stepped forward on either side of the dish, stepping forth as the referees. Both girls raised their hands as they started the count down.

"3... 2...1, BEYBLADE!" they shouted, bringing their hands down swiftly, starting the match.

Tyson tore at his ripcord, sending Dragoon into the dish with a crash. Toni held out her shooting arm and used her other to hold her wrist. She sent her blade flying into the dish as well, instantly clashing with Dragoon, sending the blades to either side of the dish.

"Pretty powerful launch," Tyson said as he took a fighting stance. Toni did the same.

"Don't take me lightly," she warned as she made the first move. Toni ran a few paces away from the dish, only to run back, ending it all of in a flying kick.

In the dish, her blade lunged forward so fast that Tyson almost had no time to react. He and Dragoon had nearly lost their chance to escape the attack. Dragoon swerved out of the way but Toni's blade had stilled nicked him, resulting in Tyson feeling a feeble pain in his shoulder.

Tyson winched, but only slightly as he placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Nice attack, but you're dealing with the world champ; you'll have to do better than that!" Tyson warned as he and Dragoon did a counterattack. He sent a fist forward, lurching Dragoon in a quick and swift spin, into Toni's blade.

Both the blade and its owner were forced back but not enough to lose their footing.

"Oh, so it's like dat," Toni grinned. She struck another fighting stance and prepared to launch another attack.

The two bladers stared each other down before breaking into fierce combat. As Tyson's pearl white and Toni's wine red blades went crashing into one another, sparks began to fly, forcing Tiky and Hilary to step back.

The two competitors grunted as they forced their blades apart then went at it again. The blades slashed, crashed and grinded into one another. Although the two bladers did suffer some minor injuries due to their duelling blades, neither of them backed down.

Dragoon tried forcing Toni's blade back but he only managed to force it back a few paces. Toni's blade suddenly broke contact and swiftly came to attack Dragoon from his left. Tyson hadn't seen that attack coming, which resulted in Toni's blade knocking Dragoon to the side.

Tyson grunted but remained steady. He looked up towards Toni, "You're pretty good,"

"I told you not to take me lightly," she retorted before smirking, "Don't you know never to take your eyes off your blade?"

Once again, before Tyson could react, the short statured blader began sending attack after attack at the stunned Dragoon. Tyson used his arms to get Dragoon to block but Toni's blade still managed to get in a few good hits.

"She's good... real good," Max commented as he and the rest of his team stared at the match in awe. The girls merely sent them good spirited smirks but remained silent.

Taking a chance, Tyson removed one of his arms from his defence and began to attack Toni's blade straight on. The two were evenly matched until Dragoon had hit a weak spot and sent Toni's blade teetering near the edge of the dish.

Toni stumbled back quite far but she remained on her feet. All cheeriness... or lack there of... was wiped clean off her face. She was getting serious. She planted her legs solidly apart in another fighting stance as she and her blade began to charge up.

"Tell me Tyson," Toni spoke with a devilish smirk, "What do you think of the sun?"

Tyson stood battle ready but puzzled as he and Toni stared at each other. What did she mean by that? Was she trying to psyche him out? Tyson stayed silent, not sure whether to answer or not.

"Not going to answer then? Okay... prepare yourself _champ_," Toni balled her fists tightly as her blade began to glow, preparing to call out her Bit Beast. "Maiden of the Sun, KLEOPATRA!"

Toni's blade glowed a frightening scarlet as a Naga-Dragon looking Bit Beast, the same red and yellow-bronze colour as its beyblade, appeared above it.

Tyson was stunned but only for a moment. He re-struck his fighting stance and called forth Dragoon from his blade. The blue dragon came out roaring, ready to finish the battle.

For a few moments all the two bit beasts did were stare at one another, then the two dragon based bit beast roared. Toni and Tyson ran to the edges of the dish preparing to attack.

Kleopatra and Dragoon collided, sparks were flying everywhere. The two blades pulled apart then started back at it again. Smashing into each other, coming apart, smashing into each other, coming apart, it went on like that until Kleopatra and Dragoon began to grind into one another.

The pressure from the two battling blades were enough to start causing the dish to crack. All the lookers on gasped.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but... maybe Toni's Kleopatra and Tyson's Dragoon are evenly matched," Kenny said as he wiped his glasses, they had fogged up from all the excitement.

Although Toni and Tyson were trying to hold their ground from the battling pressure, the navy haired blader smirked as he caught his team mates in his hindsight.

"E-venly m-atched?" Tyson said, his words strained, "Chief... There's n-no way I'm losing this battle!" With as much strength as he could muster, Tyson was able to get Dragoon to force Kleopatra and Toni back, leaving them open for an attack.

As Toni and Kleo stumbled back, Tyson and Dragoon came at them from the left. Kleo wobbled but continued to spin but once again, Dragoon came at her. Continuously, Dragoon kept attacking Kleo. Toni began to struggle to hold her footing but she stayed strong.

The junior members of the Blade breakers were very fixated on the match but the elder members couldn't help but be impressed. The blade and trainer that were so small, but they held their own particularly well.

The elder members began to wonder if all of the girls could blade like that. Hiro, Kai and Ray glanced over at the girls, who seemed to be on the edge of their seats but they didn't seemed too consumed in worry over their friend.

The three boys looked at each girl, wondering who were actual bladers, who worked behind the scene and who ran the group. They knew of course that Toni and Kat were bladers, since it was Kat who had first challenged Kai but who else were bladers?

They looked at Tiky, who was still refereeing. No... She didn't seem like a blader. Even though looks could be deceiving, she definitely didn't blade. Their gazes went to J-Dymez; she could be a possible blader. They had also ranked either her or maybe even Kat as the group leader.

They paused on Kierra but skipped over her quickly. She was the engineer, they knew that much. Torah could've been a blader as well but she had said that she and Kierra had worked on Toni's blade so maybe she was another engineer. Lastly they're gaze landed on Naomi, they weren't sure what her position was either but she probably wasn't a blader either.

Although she seemed genuinely interested in the sport, someone so feeble and soft spoken probably wasn't much of a blader.

After their quiet assessment, Hiro, Kai and Ray returned to focussing on the match.

Toni was breathing heavily now, her arms, legs and her right cheek had suffered sufficient damage. The cuts weren't deep but she was bleeding and she was tired. Tyson had suffered minor injuries as well and was breathing heavily too, but most of if was out of frustration.

Dragoon had battered Kleopatra but the red blade just continued to spin, but Tyson assumed she wouldn't continue for very long. Toni was swaying and nearly stumbled. A few more minor attacks or one major one would probably be enough to finish the match.

Tyson prepared to release Dragoon's Galaxy Turbo Twister but the beyblade dish lit up like the sun and nearly blinded him and almost everyone else watching. Suddenly the light was gone and so was Kleo.

"I told you two things! Don't take me lightly!" Toni yelled as she Tyson noticed that she was standing on the fence. She narrowed her eyes as she prepared to leap, "And _never_ take your eyes off your blade!"

The five foot three girl leapt from off of the fence and came down in an air kick. Kleopatra flew forward and smashed into Dragoon, knocking him and Tyson to the edge of the dish.

Tyson skidded back and prepared for another blow but nothing happened. Once again, Kleo was out of sight, he searched around frantically for the blade but before he could spot her, she came flying at Dragoon again, almost knocking him out the dish.

Tyson and Dragoon were still able to stable themselves as Kleo and Toni tried to force them back.

"Feelin' the heat, Champ?" Toni smirked as she and Kleo pushed harder.

Tyson gritted his teeth as he used his feet to push himself and Dragoon forward. Kleo and Toni slipped back but the two blades continued to grind against one another.

Both bladers were looking to end the match so they unleashed their ultimate attacks.

"DRAGOON, GALAXY TURBO TWISTER!"

"KLEOPATRA, SOLAR SLASH!"

The dish lit up like a roaring fire, causing everyone to shield their eyes. A harsh wind blew, nearly knocking the on lookers over.

As the light began to die down, everyone tried to see into the dish. Was the match over? Who won?

When the light finally died, both blades were wobbling but it was Kleo's blade that stopped spinning first. Tyson fell to his knees from exhaustion as Dragoon stopped spinning. He looked over at his defeated opponent who was laying on her back, her girls running over to her aid. All except Tiky, who stood in place with Hilary to call the match.

"Kleo has stopped spinning... Tyson wins..." Tiky announced sombrely as she walked over to Toni to see if she was okay.

Tyson got to his feet as his team mates ran over to see if he was okay as well.

"Ty, that was intense!" Max beamed as he and Daichi slapped the world champion on the back.

"I've never seen a simple trial battle go like that," Kenny exclaimed as he adjusted his glasses, "The pressure from both blades caused the beyblade dish to crack!"

"Nice work, bro." Hiro smiled as he removed Tyson's hat and rustled his younger sibling's hair.

"I knew I was goin' to win. I'm the champ, there was no doubt about it," Tyson gloated with a triumphant smile. "Did you all really think she was gonna beat me?"

As soon as he caught sight of Toni sitting up, he forced his way between his team mates and walked over to the defeated party.

All except Toni looked up at him as Tyson out stretched his hand for her to accept.

"Good game,"

Toni looked at his hand then up at him. Her eyes narrowed as she slapped his hand away then quickly got to her feet. Dumbfounded, Tyson just stared at her with his mouth agape. Did she really just slap his hand away, even though he had come over to tell her that she fought a pretty good battle?

Tyson's jaw locked in irritation. He was about to give her a piece of his mind but instead she gave him a piece of hers.

"Smug bastard... Shoulda known you'd act like that. '_I knew I was goin' to win. I'm the champ'_. You're as smug of a bastard as the rest of those mainstream sons of bitches! Keep you're half assed '_good game_' bullshit," Toni then pushed past him and headed for the backyard door but stopped as she as she reached it.

Without turning around, she said; "It's not because you won... it's because you were such a dick about it," and with that, she left the backyard, leaving everyone slack jawed and silent.

Kat and J-Dymez followed Toni out, and so did the rest of the girls. As they exited one by one, they said their goodbyes and said that they'll see them all around.

"Bye," Hilary said as she closed the gate behind them. She looked at Tyson and just shook her head, "That was smug of you Tyson..." she sighed as she headed up the stairs and back into the dojo, leaving the rest of the blade breakers outside.

The group of them stood there feeling slightly ashamed of themselves. They always acted smug after winning a match, but now they left that maybe their actions needed a bit of editing. Kai looked at the faces of his team mates and grunted, causing them all to look at him.

"Whatever. If she can't handle the real blading world them let her go cry about it," the slate haired captain stated as he followed Hilary inside. "We're professionals and if she can't handle our attitude for being the best then like I said... let her cry about it," and with that he went inside.

For a few moments the rest of the Blade breakers said nothing. It wasn't until Daichi agreed with Kai when the silence was broken.

"Kai's right. If she wants to cry let her, you said you weren't going easy on her,"

Tyson sent Daichi a half smile, "Yeah... right..."

Daichi nodded before he followed Kai inside. Slowly the rest of the group filed inside, Max and Tyson trailing behind.

Max placed a friendly hand on Tyson shoulder, telling his friend that he shouldn't get worked up over this without actually telling him anything verbally.

Tyson nodded and smiled at his friend before pulling Max into a nuggie.

* * *

><p>As the girls unpacked, Toni walked up behind Kierra to see what condition her Kleopatra was in.<p>

"How is she?" Toni asked. Her voice sounded emotionless, yet broken.

Kierra adjusted the goggles she was wearing then told Torah to look in the box behind her to pass her a flat headed jeweller's screwdriver. The blue eyed girl dug through the tiny box before finally finding the one Kierra needed. She then handed it to her.

"Kleo will be fine; I just need to replace her attack ring... Tyson's Dragoon damaged it so badly..."

"Will she be repaired in time for the U.B.T?"

Kierra lifted her goggles off her eyes as she spun Kleopatra around with her fingers. She held the beyblade at varies angles before answering, "If ya'll can find a new titanium attack ring, sure. But if not, we're gonna have to use a substitute,"

"But that could completely jeopardize Toni's chance in the U.B.T!" Naomi exclaimed as she put down the box she was moving and walked over to look at Kleopatra herself.

"I know... but if we can't find one we're going to have to deal with it..."

Tiky stepped in with a suggestion; "What if we ask Ming-"

"No," Toni snapped, cutting Tiky off, "We're not asking Ming-Ming... we'll find one..." she looked at the girls and they all nodded.

"We heading out tonight?" Kat asked nonchalantly.

Toni nodded, "If you're up for it,"

"Of course," Kat smirked as she and Toni pounded fists, "We can't have one of our bladers out of the games. We'll battle for a new ring,"

"That's a lot of money Kat..." Naomi said as she looked to her elder friend with concerned eyes.

Kat shrugged, "Its okay, we'll come up with it. All that matters is getting a new attack ring,"

"And practising..." J-Dymez said from the doorway, "A defeat like that is a disgrace... we're going to have to train harder. Tomorrow night, we're contacting Ming-Ming about a training facility,"

The girls were about to protest when J-Dymez raised her hand and silenced them before they could get a word out, "I know. We weren't going to ask her for anything but she seems to want to do all she can to connect with her cousins," her maroon eyes fell upon Torah and Naomi, "If she wants to blindly give us everything we ask, then I say milk her for all her kindness... we won't be putting her career in danger so use her as much as we can..."

The girls exchanged glances before all of them began to nod.

"Right... when night fall comes, we'll head out and get that new attack ring for Kleopatra. Till then, finish unpacking..."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Everyone was in the living room, staring intently at the television as Hilary gathered up her stuff. Once she collected everything she needed, the brunette shoved it all into the miniature backpack she had brought with her when she arrived earlier that day.

Hilary swung the small bag over her shoulder as she prepared to head out. The street lights were beginning to flicker to life which signalled to Hilary that she would have to hurry home. Her mother was going to throw a hissy-fit if she wasn't home soon.

Hilary looked at the boys then at the T.V. curious at to what they were all watching. Her face fell as she noticed that they were watching a program of a regional woman's beach volleyball team.

"You've got to be kidding me," Hilary said as she rolled her eyes. She discreetly swiped the remote control from Tyson's side and changed the channel. None of the boys really seemed to mind except for Tyson. Hilary saw that Max, Daichi, Hiro and Ray had furrowed their eyebrows together but they didn't voice any protests.

"What's your damage Hil?" Tyson grunted in irritation as he tried to swipe the remote control back, causing the others to look at him and the brunette.

"Couldn't you at least have the decency to wipe the drool off your face?" Hilary remark, although she had been kidding, Tyson quickly swiped the back of his hand against his mouth. Noticing that there hadn't actually been drool on his face Tyson went back to trying to pry the remote from Hilary's grasp.

The blue-nette got to his feet and swiftly tried to pull the remote from Hilary's hands. She was a lot quicker than he had expected so she quickly dodged by placing the remote in her opposing hand.

"I can't believe you're all just sitting there gawking like that. I expect that of Tyson but not from the rest of you... at least not publically anyway..." she had mumbled the last part.

"In my defence, I was watching for educational and health purposes," Ray said with a smile. Obviously he had said it as a joke, which resulted in Hilary playfully punching him in the arm.

"I'm sure the girls in bikinis had nothing to do with it,"

The cat-like teen shrugged as he and Hiro chuckled. Caught off guard, Tyson finally managed to swipe the remote back. Hilary grumbled with defeat but didn't bother taking the television remote back since she was planning on leaving in just a few minutes.

"You're just jealous that we wanna see them in bikinis. Can you and your mosquito bites sit down quietly and let us watch T.V. in peace?" Tyson remarked, earning him a well deserved smack in the back of his head.

Hilary narrowed her eyes at him. Mosquito bites! She knew he had been referring to her chest, but instead of making her purely angry, it made her a little more self-conscious than anything.

If he was looking to throw insults that hurt, Hilary would play his game.

"Mosquito bites..." she said before giving him another smack, "No wonder, our neighbours don't like you,"

Tyson had to admit. That had stung a little. The incident with Toni and the match had made him feel a bit uneasy but he honestly couldn't understand why it bothered him so much. Since Toni and the rest of the new neighbours had stormed out of the backyard, Tyson had tried to get the whole event out of his head, but thanks to Hilary it was back on his mind.

"_Our _new neighbours? You don't live here, Hilary, why don't you go home to your cave, you banshee!" Tyson remarked.

Once again, his rude comments earned him a smack, but unlike the other times, Tyson had dodged this one because he had seen it coming. He thought Hilary was going to try and take another swing at him but she didn't. Instead she narrowed her eyes at him and headed for the living room doorway.

"I was on my way out _actually_!" she said, her tone of voice, laced with acid.

"Then leave before the dog catchers come out and catch you," Tyson shot back.

Before Hilary could come back at the blue haired blader with a stingy remark of her own, Hiro stepped in. Although the little dispute between the two was amusing, it was going to get out of hand, and the elder blader knew that if he didn't stop it, things were going to turn ugly.

"Alright you two, cut it out," Hiro said, before smacking Tyson upside his head.

"Ow, what was that for?" Tyson asked as he rubbed the side of his head. He knew what it was for, he just asked because it had caught him off guard.

"So you're heading home Hilary?" Kenny asked, from his spot on the floor. The brunette nodded and informed the group that if she didn't leave soon, her mother would be calling down her cell phone looking for her.

"You planning to walk?" Max questioned with a curious cocked eyebrow.

"Yeah, why?"

"At this time of night?" Hiro inquired, adding to Max's evident worry.

"It's only dusk, the streetlight only just came on,"

"You could wait until my mom picks me up," Kenny offered, "She'd be happy to give you ride home,"

Although Hilary wanted to accept the offer, she declined. Her mother specifically told her to be home before it got to dark and she knew if she broke that promise, there would be all of hell to pay. Hilary also knew that the main reason her mom didn't want her staying over so late at the dojo was because the Blade breakers were all boys.

Sure Hilary had female friends, like Mariah, Julia and even Queen when she caught her on a good day but they weren't as fun as the boys. Plus, she hadn't known them as long and they didn't live in the area... as a matter of fact, one didn't even live in this country.

Also, Hilary didn't want to keep her mom waiting. If her mother came and got her, it would mean evident embarrassment.

"Sorry that I can't stay longer, but you know my mother,"

A few of the Blade breakers had met her mother and they sure as the sun was bright, knew that Mrs. Tachibana was a force to be reckoned with.

"At least let Tyson give you a ride home or something," Max said. He would have done it himself but he only had his permit and he didn't want to trouble any of the others with a full licence into coming with him.

"I'd rather walk," the brunette girl stated as she glared at Tyson, who in turn felt the same.

"Then Kai'll do it," Hiro suggested.

For the whole time, Kai had been tuning everyone out but the mention of his name snapped him back to reality. The slate haired blader cocked an eyebrow at Hiro then narrowed his eyes, silently questioning why he had just spoken his name.

Taking notice of Kai's evident lack of knowing, Hiro somewhat repeated his statement, making it sound like more of an order than a suggestion, "Kai'll drive you home,"

The slate haired male contorted his handsome features into a look of annoyance. Why did he have to be the one to get up and drive Hilary home? What the hell was wrong with Hiro that he couldn't do it himself?

The matter of the fact was that Kai, Hiro and Tyson were the only ones with their licence. Max and Kenny were still in the process of getting theirs, Daichi was too young and Ray just hadn't bothered since he preferred to walk everywhere.

Kai grunted as Hiro sent him a sly smile and notified him that the car keys were on the kitchen table where Tyson had left him. That was another thing... it was Hiro's car. Kai began to ponder as to why he was stuck with playing chauffeur.

"What's wrong with you? Why can't you drive her?" Kai asked, he hadn't said it to make Hilary feel like she was bothering him but that's what it sounded like to her so she stepped in saying that she would just take the bus home.

Hiro refused Hilary's suggestion and he looked at Kai sternly and asked him once again to drop Hilary off. Kai was going to tell Hiro to go shove his car keys up his ass when he glanced over at Hilary for a brief second.

She looked slightly lost and a little hurt that he didn't want to drive her home. Even though she had suggested other means of transportation, there was no denying she was a little dismayed about no one wanting to drive her home.

Kai sighed with aggravation as he forced himself off the couch and headed to the kitchen, Hilary trailing behind him like a distressed puppy.

"You didn't have to drive me, I was fine with walking..." she said as she followed him.

"Not like a really had a choice," Kai remarked as he found the car keys. He picked them up and headed back into the hall with Hilary. The two went to the side door that led to the garage.

Kai clicked the blue button on the car remote, unlocking the doors, telling Hilary to get in as he opened the driver's seat and slid inside. The female brunette dashed around the black Mitsubishi gallant and opened the car door, sliding in without a word. She quickly buckled her seatbelt.

Kai irritably forced the key into the ignition. He looked above his head for the suspended garage remote, once finding it; he pressed the button to open the garage door, turned the car on and began to back out.

It took them a few moments to fully pull out of the long dojo driveway but once they did, Kai turned the car in the direction of Hilary's house. As he prepared to drive off, Hilary caught sight of the neighbours leaving.

They were dressed in bright neon clothing, all of which had their own colour scheme. Hilary identified Tiky, dressed in all yellow, Kat dressed in all blue, Torah, dressed in green, Naomi, dressed in purple, and Toni dressed in bright red, before Kai sped off into the setting sun.

Hilary kept her head staring backwards a few moments longer, trying to figure out what the neighbours had been doing, but as soon as they reached the intersection of the dojo's street, she turned her head forward.

The light was red but it only took a few seconds before it changed to green. Kai drove the car forward, a little faster than he should have but it was expected. Hilary looked at Kai from the corner of her eye as she reminisced on the day Kai had actually received his licence.

She had tagged along when he and Ray had gone out for a drive and nearly died from a heart attack. She didn't think Kai knew it but he always drove a bit faster than he really should have. The thought of it made her wonder how he really got his licence.

She smiled to herself; his driving instructor probably didn't want him coming back so he allowed Kai to pass. Kai always gave off a somewhat frightening aura so that may have played a part in him passing as well.

As Hilary thought more and more about it, she couldn't help stealing a glance of him again. Although his speeding needed a little work, Kai drove with a very comfortable demeanour. He leaned back into the driver's seat, using only his right hand so steer. Hilary hadn't even notice that Kai had wound down his window and currently had his left arm perched slightly outside of it.

Before he could catch her, the brunette turned to face forward, slightly smiling to herself. She did feel slightly bad that Hiro had provoked him into driving her home but that didn't mean she wasn't happy and very pleased with the outcome.

As obsessive as it seemed, Hilary was actually quite happy that Kai was driving her home. Even if they didn't speak to one another, she was just glad that she was spending time with him. It was odd how Kai could make her comfortable and uncomfortable at the very same time...

Hilary leaned into the clothed seats and just enjoyed the ride as they hit one of the main streets. Their faces fell at the sight of the traffic. Both teens were wondering as to just why the hell there was so much traffic but Hilary was the first to realize it.

It was Friday night; people were probably going out clubbing or out to dinner or on dates. She voiced this realization, causing Kai to grunt. Letting her know that he acknowledged her information but also to somewhat verbally notify that he was annoyed.

The two of them sat in silence as they finally made their way into the jumble of cars and slowly began to inch forward. Suddenly, Hilary heard her cell phone go off and she knew this was going to be the start of many calls from her mother until she arrived home.

"Hi mom," Hilary answered. Kai didn't have to look to tell that Hilary was distressed by her mother calling.

Although he couldn't pick up any coherent sentences, he could hear Hilary's mother's voice through the little pink phone Hilary had pressed to her ear.

"Yeah... yes mom... I'm on my way mom... no... No I'm not walking, one of the boys are driving me... Kai mom... yea the mean looking one," Hilary had mumbled the last part but Kai caught it, "I'll be home in a bit, there's traffic... okay... Kay mom... NO!"

Hilary's sudden screeched actually caused Kai to jump a little. He hadn't been expecting it especially since the only sound in the car was the sound of Hilary on the phone with her mom. Other than that, the radio was currently off.

"No, I will _not_ let you talk to him! MOM!" Hilary whined as she and her mother continued to argue over the phone. Finally unable to take it anymore, Hilary turned to Kai, her face as timid and frightened as a doe about to be eaten by a cougar. "Um... Kai... I know this is sort of random but... my mother wants to speak with you..."

Kai glanced at Hilary from the corner of his eye. He cocked an eyebrow and she knew he was asking her why her mother wanted to talk to him.

"She wants to make sure I'm not lying and that I'm actually getting a drive home... I'm sorry; she's just... over protective,"

Kai paused but agreed as he rolled his eyes and held out his hand for the phone. Hilary gave him a warm smile before handing it over to him.

"Hello?" Kai said, trying to muster up the most polite tone of voice that he could.

"Is this Kai?"

He wanted to ask her who the hell else it would be, but decided against it. He would at least try to make a good first impression, no matter how annoyed he was at the moment. "Yes," he answered.

Hilary hung on to every word, making sure that neither party said anything too rude. Hilary's mother asked the typical questions; '_where are you now?_', '_how long do you think it'll take_?', '_you're not touching my daughter are you_?'

That's when Hilary yanked the phone right out of Kai's grasp. Not only was the poor girl embarrassed but she feared that Kai would say something he shouldn't, or worse... he'd laugh. Hilary was pretty sure that Kai wasn't interested her the same way she was interested in him but she'd be damned if she confirmed that while he was talking to her mother.

"That's enough mother!" Hilary said sternly, cursing in her head. How embarrassing, "I'll be home soon okay!" and with that Hilary hung up the phone and shoved it into the pocket of her tattered jean shorts.

She looked over at Kai, who tried to maintain an emotionless face, but it was evident that there were some battling emotions flashing across his face. At one point, Hilary was sure she saw him wanting to laugh.

"I'm sorry about my mom," she blurted out, to get herself to stop looking at the handsome boy beside her, "Like I said; Over protective,"

For a moment, Kai said nothing. He was still trying to process everything. His silence made Hilary feel uneasy and she began to fidget. She felt like the car was getting smaller and that there wasn't enough air. Thus making her roll down her own window.

Just then a white Pontiac pulled up beside them on Hilary's side of the car. There were two boys inside the front seats. They looked about nineteen maybe twenty. The driver looked Hilary up and down before tapping his friend on the shoulder to look as well.

The two of them smirked at her, causing Hilary to roll her eyes. It wasn't like she hadn't been ogled before but that was just disrespectful, they didn't even have the decency to say hello first before ogling her like a piece of meat.

The driver had dark brown hair and had on a nice pale green dress shirt. He leaned out of his window, closer to Hilary. He kept on calling hey, to get her attention and Hilary tried her best to ignore him but he was very persistent.

Fed up with the heys, Hilary looked back over at the guy and just responded with a '_what?_'

"How you doing?" was his response. Hilary couldn't help but roll her eyes again. Was this guy really trying to hit on her with a _how you doing_? Pathetic.

Kai watched the whole thing play out from the driver seat. He was thinking the same as Hilary. The guy in the white Pontiac was rather pathetic. Did he actually think a girl like Hilary would be interested him? Not that Kai really, cared it just seemed foolish.

He could admit, Hilary was a pretty girl, but she had standards and this lowlife certainly didn't meet her standards... Kai paused. What the hell was he thinking? He didn't know Hilary's standards.

The slate haired captain glanced over at the brunette in the car. She looked annoyed, so his guesses on her standards had to be right. Since the dudes in the car next to them seemed so persistent, Kai decided to step in.

He bend his head down slightly, to give them a good view of him, he shot them his best glare before he began pointing his thumb over his shoulder, telling the two guys to get lost.

The two guys seemed taken aback, and for a moment all they did was stare. The driver then apologized saying that they didn't known Hilary's boyfriend was in the car.

Hilary's brown eyes widened as they said this. She looked at Kai, who just continued to glare at the two boys. She felt her cheeks get hot as she slapped her hands over them to hide her blush.

The driver of the Pontiac just kept on apologizing until his passenger tapped him on the shoulder. Kai and Hilary couldn't hear what they were saying, but the duo looked over at them, went back to their conversation, then returned to look back into Hiro's Mitsubishi gallant.

"Dude, aren't you Kai Hiwatari?"

Both Kai and Hilary seemed caught off guard by the question. Kai actually didn't have to respond to the question since the passenger confirmed that Kai really was who he said he was to his friend.

"Dude! You rock!" both guys said in unison. Both Hilary and Kai just remained silent, not sure of what to say, Luckily for them, the light hand turned green, allowing both them and the guys in the white Pontiac to drive through, as they picked up speed, the two guys gave Kai and Hilary the thumbs up, "She's a babe dude, YOU ROCK!" and with that, they drove off.

Kai stared at the back of their car, slightly confused as he turned onto the next street.

"That was... different," Hilary remarked as she stared at the car as well.

Kai would have agreed but him being... well... himself, he merely let out a 'Hn' and continued driving.

* * *

><p>When Kai and Hilary pulled into the Tachibana drive way, Hilary's mother stood on the porch, waiting for her daughter with a stern face on. Mrs. Tachibana and Hilary looked almost exactly alike, except Hilary's mother's hair was longer. She had it tied back into a ponytail and Mrs. Tachibana also wore glasses, while Hilary didn't<p>

The brunette in the car groaned as she slunk down into the seat. Kai pulled the car to a stop and watched as Hilary's mother trotted down the steps over to the car.

"You must be Kai. I'm Hilary's mother," she introduce herself. Mrs. Tachibana held out her hand for Kai to shake and he hesitantly accepted it. Kai wasn't a contact person, so shaking people's hands were foreign to him, but since he had promised to make a good impression he did it anyway.

"Yeah, I'm Kai," was all he said as they released each others' hands. Suddenly, Hilary jumped out of the car, as if it were on fire. She quickly closed the door and told her mother that they should head inside.

Hilary took hold of her mother's arm and tried dragging her up the front steps and into the house, but Mrs. Tachibana was stubborn, like her daughter, Kai thought, and refused to re-enter the house before she could speak with Kai.

"I though Tyson was you're boyfriend, I didn't know that it was that one you were going out with. Is that war paint on his face or are those tattoos.

"MOM, PLEASE!" Hilary exclaimed at the top of her lungs as she dragged her mother inside of the house.

With a huff, Hilary's mother returned to the inside of the house and walk off, cursing about how different her and Hilary's relationship was and that Hilary never told her anything anymore.

Kai was about to pull out when Hilary ran out of her house and up to the car.

"Sorry about my mom. I'll clear everything up with her... um..." she stood there for a moment, completely dumbfounded as she and Kai stared at one another. She grew frantic on what to say until finally she apologized once more and thanked Kai for the ride.

"It's fine..." Kai replied, Hilary was about to run back into the house, except Kai had grabbed hold on her hand, preventing her from doing so.

The brunette tried to keep herself from brushing, as Kai began speaking to her.

"Hil, do me a favour..."

"W-what?" she mentally kicked herself for stammering.

"Don't jump out the window to escape from your mom..."

For a moment, Hilary didn't understand, but when it clicked, she couldn't help but smile.

"I can handle her," she smiled as Kai released her hand and began pulling out of the driveway again. She watched as he turned out and drove up the street. Hilary couldn't help herself from sighing as she turned on her heels and headed back inside.

* * *

><p>When Kai arrived back to the Dojo; Max and Daichi were off preparing for bed. Kenny had already been picked up. Ray and Tyson remained in the living room, while Hiro was no where to be seen.<p>

"Where is he?" Kai asked as he threw the car keys on the glass top coffee table.

Tyson replied with a 'where's who?' but Ray knew who his friend was talking about.

"Hiro's getting ready. He decided that he was going to go out tonight. He told me to ask if you wanted to come since my birthday hasn't come yet," Kai grunted as he threw himself down in the spot next to Ray.

Kai ran his fingers through his unkempt blue – grey locked as he began to speak, "Fuck no!"

Ray looked at his friend, completely shocked but only for a moment. Kai never really swore unless annoyed and/or extremely ticked off, and judging from his body language, Kai seemed ticked off.

"Let him go out by himself. If he was going to go out, why didn't he just drive Hilary himself? Honestly?"

Ray shrugged, "He only just decided to that he wanted to go out,"

Kai let out another one of his 'Hn's before swiping the remote control from Tyson.

"Hey!" Tyson protested, but left it at that. Knowing Kai, he'd probably punch the back of his head, or force him to wake up at the crack of dawn and train... in the pouring rain. Since Tyson wasn't up for any of that, he just let his cold captain keep the remote.

Just then, Hiro came back into the living room fully dressed. The twenty-one year old was dressed in a pair of crisp blue jeans and a light blue and white striped shirt. He wasn't wearing any shoes since he wasn't about to leave the house just yet.

"You coming out Kai?" Hiro asked, earning him a glare.

Besides the fact that Kai never really enjoyed clubbing (he had once gone out with Hiro, Garland and Brooklyn, then vowed never to go out with them again) Kai was currently pissed off with Hiro. Thinking that if he had the idea of going out, he should have just volunteered himself to drop Hilary home instead of forcing him to do it.

Even though Hiro knew Kai was currently peeved with him, the Blade breaker's coach smiled, "Guess that means no. Fine, I'll ask Garland and Brooklyn then," with that, Hiro left the room.

* * *

><p>Instead of taking his car, Hiro waited for Garland and Brooklyn came to pick him up so that they could head out and go clubbing. Hiro said good bye to the rest of the Blade breakers. He joked; telling them that they weren't allowed to stay up past midnight then was out the door.<p>

Kai rolled his eyes while the others laughed and told Hiro their good byes.

"I can't wait to go clubbing. It seems fun," Max exclaimed as she placed his hands behind his head.

"Me too. I'll be there's tons of girls just waiting to get banged in the club washrooms," Tyson remarked, nudging Max.

The blonde laughed, even though he and Tyson had wanted to go clubbing for different reasons. Tyson would go for the girls and probably the alcohol, while Max went for the experience and dancing.

Daichi snorted at the conversation as he placed his hands behind his head. He was fifteen and still didn't see the excitement in anything outside of beyblading.

"Don't see what the big deal is, going out to drink and dance with girls? You can just do that here,"

Tyson patted Daichi on the head, "You'll understand when your balls come in,"

The others couldn't help but laugh as Daichi tired punching Tyson in the stomach, but much to their surprise, Tyson was able to roll out of the way, Daichi tried to pounce on Tyson but the navy haired world champ kept the redhead at bay.

Max and Ray merely shook their heads as Kai tired to keep his mind engulfed in the television program he had stopped on. It was regional news and a segment about a group of teenagers going around stealing beyblade supplies off trucks had caught his attention. No stores had been robbed but the community feared that it was eminent.

As Ray and Max jeered Tyson and Daichi on, Kai tuned them out as he continued to watch the news. Why hadn't he heard about this before? People were actually going around stealing blade supplies off trucks?

The blue – grey haired teen continued to stare at the television as the news switched to something about a dog surfing, which caused Kai to change the channel. He thought more about what he had just watched, how ridiculous could people get? It was going to be sooner or later when they got caught and sadistically, Kai wished when they were caught that he could be there to watch them get put away.

Honestly, doing something as stupid as stealing supplies worth hundreds and thousands of dollars would eventually come back and bite you in the ass.

* * *

><p>As the night drew on, the Blade breakers that had remained at the dojo started getting ready for bed. It wasn't until the actually looked at one of the clocks did they notice that it was two in the morning.<p>

"Hiro will be back in an hour," Ray stated as he stretched. It was a routine of Hiro's. Every time he went out clubbing, he was always home by three in the morning.

Max yawned as he stood up, "I'm gonna turn in. I'm thinking of going out tomorrow..."

"Out where?" Tyson asked, yawning as well.

Max shrugged as he began to run his bright blue eyes. Too tired to continue on with the conversation, the blonde headed out of the living room and down the hall to his room. Daichi and Tyson followed suit and followed behind the blonde, heading to their rooms as well.

As they walked down the hall Tyson looked over at Daichi, "It sucks that I gotta share a room with you... How am I going to get my Mac on when I have a fifteen year old sharing a room with me?"

Daichi was too tired to strike Tyson, so he merely replied with a; "You don't have to worry... no girl is going to want to get with you anyway,"

Ray and Kai heard the sound of Tyson pushing Daichi into the wall and the two of them running down the hall, cursing at one another but they didn't bother to check what was going on. It was another routine. Tyson complained about sharing a room with Daichi, they fought, then they would crash as soon as they hit their pillows, leaving Ray and Kai awake until the wee hours of the morning.

The two elder bladers couldn't understand why, they were usually up this late but they just chalked it up to the summer feeling. Everyone always stayed up extra late during summer; they figured they were no different.

Each boy was now occupying a different couch. Ray now had a remote and was flipping through the channels aimlessly when he noticed a bright light shining through the window. The Chinese cat-like teen thought that Hiro was arriving back early but he noticed that the car continued on to the neighbours house.

Curious, Ray got to his feet and looked out the window. He watched as Tiky, Naomi, Torah, Kat and Toni climbed out of the car and dragged themselves into their house, looking battered and beaten, but overall happy and confident.

Ray cocked an eyebrow as he continued to watch them, they were dressed in brightly coloured clothing, the same clothes Hilary had seen the in earlier, but their clothes were ripped and frayed. It looked as if they had all been in a fight or had too much of a good time partying.

"What are you staring at?" Kai asked nonchalantly as he looked up at Ray.

"The neighbours... looks like they had a rough night... or a fun one depending on how you see it,"

Curious, Kai got to his feet but the girls had already headed inside and he came up behind Ray and looked out the window. Suddenly a flashback from when Kai had dropped Hilary home came into his mind.

"I think they went out," Kai notified, causing Ray to look at them, "When I was dropping Hilary off I saw them getting ready to go somewhere,"

The Chinese boy nodded as he closed the blinds, "I guess they had a fun night," he remarked then returned to his place on the couch.

Although he couldn't see out of it, Kai remained by the window a bit longer. He stared blankly at the blinds as he thought at the new neighbours... he didn't understand why but he felt that something about them was a little off. He couldn't figure out what it was but he left it alone.

Tiredness was finally starting to hit his body but instead of going to the couch, he headed out of the living room. He told Ray he was heading off to bed and said that he would see him later on.

Ray nodded and told his friend good night.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A sick and pale Hiro groaned as Tyson swiped his car keys from off the kitchen counter. Hiro had sluggishly dragged himself into the kitchen in search of his hangover remedy of black coffee but much to the blue haired coach's dismay there currently weren't any coffee beans in the dojo.

Being overly dramatic, Hiro threw himself into the nearest chair and rested his head in his arms on the tabletop. Hilary and Ray tried their best in helping him calm down or at least be sensible but they knew if he didn't get his extra large double, double it was going to be a very long day.

The last time the Blade breakers had experienced Hiro's terrible hangover behaviour was last year at his twenty-first birthday. He had nearly driven them all over the edge and up the wall with his complaining, constant demanding of pain killers and excessive vomiting.

Since they didn't want to relive the event, Ray was sending Max and Tyson out to bring Hiro some coffee as well as pick up a bag of coffee beans from the grocery store.

"Hurry..." Hiro irritably groaned as he lifted his head. He had intense bags under his eyes and looked as if he were about to fall over and croak at any moment.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be back as soon as I can bro," Tyson said as he and Max made their way through the side door leading to the garage.

As soon as Tyson and Max entered the grocery store, Tyson's curious dark falu red eyes spotted a couple of young woman. Tyson elbowed Max as he pointed at the two girls he had in his sights.

"Two hotties at twelve o'clock,"

Max turned his gaze to where Tyson was looking and smiled, "Technically... that's two o'clock,"

Tyson rolled his eyes as he walked away from his friend, over to the girls, "Like it matters!" he spat as he walked up to the interracial duo.

Since they had their backs turned to him, Tyson felt obligated to objectify the two girls before possibly hitting on them. The shorter girl had darker skin and, from what Tyson could gather, a firm backside. He looked over her womanly curves before checking out her taller, peachy skinned friend.

She was a good few inches taller and was thicker bodied. She had legs, hips and a few other attributes that Tyson couldn't help but let his gaze rest upon.

As Max came up behind him, Tyson whistled just before he tapped the two girls on the shoulder.

He was about to send them a cheesy pick up line but as soon as the two girls turned around, the words caught dead in his throat.

"Hey!" Tiky waved a chipper hello to the two Blade breakers.

Toni on the other hand merely rolled her eyes.

Tyson just stood there, slightly dumbfounded. He wasn't at all expecting the two hot girls he was checking out to be two of his seven neighbours and he especially didn't expect one of them to be the one neighbour that hated his guts.

Finally regaining his ability to speak, Tyson greeted them both, and tired not to stare at Toni but he was failing miserably. The forest-green eyed girl shot him an icy glare before turning her head to look in another direction.

"What are you boys doing here?" Tiky asked, continuing on with the conversation.

"Nothing. Just picking up some coffee beans. Hiro went out last night and he's hung over and needs some." Max answered, Tyson was too busy staring down at Toni.

"Oh, that's sad... have you tired slapping him a slap across the face?"

Max wasn't exactly sure if Tiky had been serious or if she was joking but he laughed anyway and shook his head, "Maybe we'll try that next time," he joked.

Tiky giggled, "We're just here picking up stuff. We're going to have a barbeque today, do you wanna-"

Before Tiky could finish, Toni cut her off, "Let's just hurry and get the stuff before J freaks,"

"But what about-"

"Let's go!" Toni snapped irritably as she took hold of Tiky's arm and began dragging her off, pushing their cart in front of her.

"H-hey!" Tiky protested.

Tyson and Max were sure Tiky would be able to break hold of Toni's grasp but she looked at if she was struggling. For someone so small, Toni sure was strong.

Max and Tyson exchanged glances as they watched the two girls walk away. The blue haired champion then ran in front of the girls' cart to stop them dead in their tracks. At first he wasn't sure why he did that but since he was currently in their way, now was as good as ever to talk with Toni about what had happened in the dojo backyard yesterday.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"No," Toni said blatantly as she tried forcing the cart forward. She was able to get Tyson to move out of her way since she had practically threatened to take his toes off with her aggressive cart driving. As quickly as she could, Toni pushed the cart and dragged Tiky down the dairy isle.

She tried to get away from Tyson without drawing to much attention to herself but the red eyed youth was persistent. Once again, he was able to make his way in front of her cart to stop her from going any further.

"Just hear me out!" Tyson snapped. He was getting irritated with the fact that Toni didn't want to at least hear what he had to say, "I'm trying to talk to you,"

Toni released her hold on Tiky as she pulled open one of the freezer doors to allow herself access to a few cartons of milk, "Frankly," she began with a monotone way of speaking, "I really don't want to hear you speak,"

"Well I guess that's too damn bad!" Tyson walked around the cart so that he was directly beside Toni. He was about to give her a piece of his mind when she swiftly turned and tried to physically force him back. Out of surprise and reflex Tyson caught both Toni's arms and accidently knocked her off balance, sending her right into the milk freezer.

Toni bit her lip angrily as she felt cold milk drip down her exposed back. The impact of her falling into the freezer caused a hole to form in one of the cartons, thus having it leak onto her back.

Tyson quickly released his hold on her and backed away.

"Oh shit..." he murmured as he watched her straighten up and slam the freezer door. She wiped as much of the milk as she could off of her back, took hold of Tiky and their shopping cart and bolted off, leaving Max and Tyson in her dust.

Evidently this wasn't turning out how he had planned but there was no denying the fact that the sight of Toni's face when she fell into the freezer made Tyson wanted to laugh a little bit. As both he and Max ran to catch up with the two girls, Tyson tried his best to stifle his laughter as he ran up beside the angry young female.

Toni glanced at Tyson from the corner of her eye and made a stern face as she turned to look at him. Although he had been trying his best, she could still tell that he wanted to laugh at her.

"So you thought that was funny, huh?" Toni growled as she continued to walk with Tiky, Tyson and Max slightly trailing behind them.

"I didn't mean to do that, honest..." he said, trying to force back a smile.

"How about you just stay the hell away from me?"

Toni's sudden loud outburst stopped Tyson's laughter immediately. He could tell she was really aggravated but instead of scaring him off and making him go away, her yelling, in turn made him slightly angry as well.

"Why won't you just listen to what I had to say?"

"Maybe because I don't want to talk to you! So why don't you get to steppin' and leave us alone?" Making it easier for herself to get away from him, Toni let go of Tiky and speedily made her way down the rest of the isle and turned into the next one.

Tyson followed her closely, leaving Tiky and Max behind.

"... So you said something about a barbeque?" Max asked, turning to the blonde/brunette. She smiled at him as she began dishing out what Toni had prevented her from saying earlier.

Tyson was going to follow Toni all over the grocery store if he had to; just to get her to listen to him but the isle she was currently heading down made him pause at its entrance. It was the woman's hygiene isle... an isle where no man, or at least any of the ones he knew, dared to walk.

Toni looked back at him as she noticed he was no longer following her and smirked. She turned her head forward as she began to walk further down the isle, "What's the matter champ? Afraid of a few tampons,"

Tyson cringed at the mention of the word. He began debating within himself. He really wanted to get his point across but he also didn't want to walk down that isle. A few moments passed before Tyson took in a deep breath and began to walk forward.

He cautiously made his way down the isle, keeping his eyes forward. Toni turned her head back around and murmured curse words as she noticed Tyson following her again.

Fed up with his antics, Toni stopped in the middle of the isle and snapped; "FINE! What the hell do you want to say?"

Tyson paused for a moment as he witnessed Toni do this, but he felt his lips wanting to smirk as he drew closer to her. She had finally got it through her head that he wasn't going to rest until she heard what he had to say.

Tyson stopped a few ways short of Toni. The smirk that threatened to appear on his lips had made its way onto his face, and he could tell that the fact that he was smirking at her was making Toni even more annoyed than she currently was. He decided not to get any closer in order to prevent any unnecessary injury.

He had a feeling that if he got to close, Toni might throw a good one and punch him in the face.

Tyson wanted to start explaining himself but for some reason all he did was stand there staring at his five foot three neighbour. He tried to keep his gaze focused on her face but he couldn't help running his eyes along her cheekbones and down her perfectly smooth face.

His eyes then slid down her neck to her collarbone and finally he stopped just about her cleavage.

His mouth fell open slightly as he stared just about the valley of her bosom but he snapped himself out of his trance before Toni could fully notice where he was looking. Just as Tyson was about to state what he wanted to say, his mind went blank and all that came out was; "Um..."

He frantically scrambled to get the words he wanted but they weren't coming out how he wanted in his head. Kai had been right... he really did speak before thinking.

"I well...um... I-you... I...shit..."

Toni stood there; looking at him with a peeved looked on her face. She rolled her eyes as she turned around and returned to her cart, "Well that was a waste of time..."

Just as she was about to walk away, once again, Tyson gripped onto her shoulder and turned her back to face him. He moved as close to her as he possibly could, causing her to freeze in her tracks.

For a moment all they did was stare at each other, until Toni narrowed her eyes and slapped Tyson's hand away.

"Don't you EVER lay a hand on me again! You hear me? Touch me one more time and I'll tear out one of your organs through your ass!"

"Hey! Maybe if you'd listen to me, I wouldn't have to put my hands on you!"

The two of them hadn't intended of being so loud but their obvious dispute was causing every woman in the isle to look their way, but of course, Toni and Tyson didn't currently care.

"Are you fucking insane? Don't touch me, or I'll break my foot off in your ass!"

"I'd like to see you try! You're too fucking short to reach my ass!"

"Oh! So now you're comin' out with the short jokes huh? Guess you'll say whatever you can to make yourself feel big!"

"I am big! You on the other hand could use some more of that milk! It'll make you grow!"

Toni's mouth fell open as she and Tyson stared each other down. She began balling up her fist and gritting her teeth together as she took on a fighter stance, "Oh, now you's about to get a serious ass whooping in the middle of this damn grocery store. I'll shove my foot so far up your narrow behind that you'll clip my toe nails with your teeth,"

Tyson grunted as he childishly stomped his feet, "Oh my God! There's no getting through to you! I wouldn't put up with your bullshit if you weren't so hot! Why the hell won't you just let me apologize to you?"

Toni opened her mouth to come back at him but she let the words die on her tongue, "Apologize?"

"Yeah!" Tyson exclaimed as he threw his hands up into the air, "That's what I've been trying to do this whole time!"

"Well that's kind of hard to believe considerin' you knocked my ass into the 2 %!"

"It was an accident!" out of frustration, Tyson ran his fingers through his tousled blue locks. He took in a deep breath in order to calm himself down. As soon as he felt a hint of calmness enter his being, he began speaking once again, "Look, I wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday alright? You really are a good beyblader and I really shouldn't have said all that smack about you okay? I'm just a smug jerk like that alright?"

For a moment Toni just stared at him and said nothing. She really did want to agree and say that yeah... he was a jerk but oddly enough she couldn't bring herself to do it. She wasn't sure how to respond but before she could open her mouth, a woman in the isle came up beside the two of them and voiced her opinion.

"I think you should forgive him. He apologized and it was really sweet. Not to mention he did it in front of all these people. You're boyfriend really is sorry,"

Toni's face went slightly red out of frustration and embarrassment as she abruptly stated that Tyson was not her boyfriend. Emphasizing the not part.

"Well, in any case doll, you should forgive him," another woman said as she walked by.

"Who the hell asked any of you?" Toni snapped as she folded her arms and looked to her right. She wasn't looking anywhere specific she just didn't want to keep looking at Tyson. Although he was trying to hide it, the smugness on his face was glaring and making her even more ticked off.

"Come on... friends?"

Toni peaked at him from the corner of her eye as Tyson held out his hand for her to shake. She wanted to tell him to go shove his apology in one of his orifices but the people in the isle were right... his apology was sort of sweet... and it took a real man to apologize out loud in front of so many people.

With a huff, Toni took hold of his hand and shook it, "fine..." she murmured, causing Tyson to smile with triumph.

"I guess... I overacted a little bit as well..." she stated as she and Tyson pulled their hands back. All Tyson did was shrug in response, which in his case was a wise move. He didn't need to go and say anything stupid to have her hating him again.

"So were friends again?" Tyson asked as he cutely shoved his hands into his jean pockets.

"We weren't friends to begin with..."

"Then let's start," Tyson removed one of his hands from his pockets and held it out for Toni to shake again, "Tyson Kinomiya..."

Toni looked down at his hand, then back up at his face. He shot her a genuine smile that couldn't help but make her smirk a little bit.

"Toni Freeman..." she said as she gripped Tyson's hand and shook it.

Just then, Max and Tiky came around the corner. They were carrying a few things like a ketchup, mustard and relish pack. Hamburger buns, piles of packaged meat and a few boxes of drinks... well... Max was carrying most of it; Tiky was just carrying the lighter objects.

The two friendly teens dumped the stuff in their hands into Toni's shopping cart then turned to their two friends.

"No one is planning on hurting anyone, right?" Tiky asked. She wore a slight pout and everyone could see the anxiousness written all over her face.

"No. We're cool," Tyson smiled as he put out his fist for Toni to pound. She let her fist gently collide with his as she agreed that they were no longer feuding.

Tiky hopped as she began frantically clapping. She pulled Tyson and Toni in a near back breaking hug and squealed; "YAY! We're all friends again!" she then released her tight grip on the two and looked at Toni, "It's a good thing too! I invited them over for our barbeque!"

"Ugh," Toni said as she rolled her eyes, "We just started talking to one another! Why'd you have to invite them over? I think I've seen enough of the beyblade world champion for one day,"

"Don't deny it! You can't get enough of me," Tyson said, receiving a glare from Toni.

"Don't push your luck..." she stated as she broke free from Tiky and began walking off with the shopping cart, she quickly looked over her shoulder, "See you later..."

Tyson nodded, "Yeah. See ya..." he saluted as he watched the two girls trot away.

* * *

><p>"Thank God," Hilary sighed as she slid the backyard close. She then ran her fingers through her thick chocolate hair as she sat down on the backyard patio.<p>

Hiro had always been a good friend to her but she didn't think she could help him while he was hung over. Hiro was quite a piece of work; constantly whining or complaining, bitching, asking for pain killers and vomiting.

She thought that after the twenty-first birthday incident that he'd learned his lesson about his drinking limit but evidently not. She was more than thrilled when Tyson and Max arrived back with his coffee. He had quieted himself as soon as that extra large coffee cup reached his grasp and that's when she and Ray knew they were free from having to aid him any longer.

Hilary couldn't help but giggle though. Even though the Blade breakers were a rowdy and odd bunch, they were still the best friends she ever had.

Hilary breathed in deeply as she let her mind go blank. Today wasn't as humid as she thought it would be and the warmth of the sun's rays on her legs were quite inviting... maybe she'd tan a little bit later...

Hilary gently kicked her legs back and froth in the sun while the rest of her body laid in the shade of the patio. Outside was oddly quiet except for the faint sound of birds chirping and some activity in the yard adjacent to theirs.

It was coming from the new neighbours' yard so Hilary assumed they were probably moving something or setting up for their barbeque that she and the rest of the Blade breakers had been invited to. Hilary began to ponder on what she'd bring to the event... maybe she and Ray would make a nice macaroni pie or something of that sort.

Hilary snapped out of her food related thoughts as she heard a grunt on her far right. The brunette girl sat up and tried to see exactly where it was coming from.

Her face turned bright red and her breathing hitched as she caught sight of Kai near the pond.

Kai always found time to train regardless of the weather and today was no different. He was currently doing push ups and that alone would have been a sight to see but the fact that he was doing it shirtless was what made her blush.

Sure. She had caught the other boys with their shirts off every now and again but it was different when Kai was shirtless. It was like watching perfection.

As that crossed her mind, Hilary didn't think it was possible to blush any deeper but she felt her face grow even hotter. Like watching perfection? He'd surely laugh if he ever heard her say that.

Unable to pry her eyes away, Hilary returned to her sitting position to watch her crush sweat. He made doing push ups look so easy... Sure he was sweating but that was probably from the heat, he didn't look like it was causing him any strain at all.

"Oh man..." Hilary said to herself as she watched him with great interest, "I wonder how much he's done so far..." she didn't really think about the exact number of push ups he'd probably done since she was too caught up in watching the muscles in his arms work every time he brought himself up and down to the grassy floor.

The way the droplets of sweat made their way down his biceps and triceps had caused Hilary's mouth to fall open but she quickly closed it as soon as she noticed that it had fallen open.

She felt a little foolish just watching him like that and also a bit hypocritical. Yesterday, she had complained to the boys about how they ogled a bunch of volleyball players on the T.V. and she was currently doing the same to Kai.

Then again... in her defence, it was for appreciation purposes right? She really did appreciate the greatness that was the push up, especially since it produced such remarkable outcomes for the body.

Hilary cringed slightly, was she really making excuses for watching Kai train? If no one saw her, did it really matter that she was staring at him?

Letting the thought slip, Hilary just continued to watch her friend as he stood up to do chin ups from one of the tree branches draped above him.

Hilary nearly fell from her seat as she watched Kai grab hold of one of the strongest branches in his reach and begun pulling himself up and down to do his chin ups. She leaned in as she watched his abdomen.

'My goodness, he has nice abs,' she thought.

Beads of sweat were threatening to roll down his face as he continued on but once again, he showed no facial expression of being in any strain. Like Hilary had thought earlier, he made doing physical exercise look so easy...

Trying not to solely concentrate on him, Hilary began scanning the area around him and noticed that his bottle of water was empty.

Hilary got to her feet and headed back inside of the dojo. She was going to retrieve another water bottle for him and she'd make sure that it was especially cold. She paused again as she pulled a half frozen bottle from the freezer. She was becoming fan girlish again.

She hated that feeling. It made her feel like she was nothing more than... well a fan girl. For a moment, she paused as she thought about it. She wasn't a fan girl... she was just a friend bringing another friend a bottle of water as he trained his beautifully chiselled body before he dehydrated himself... there was no harm in that, right?

Hilary smiled to herself as she closed the freezer. If she looked at it that way, she felt slightly better.

The brunette made her way back out into the backyard, down the patio steps and over to her friend.

As Kai caught sight of her he released his hold on the tree branch and landed gracefully on his feet, just as Hilary came walking up, all smiles, and held the water bottle out for him.

"I knew you were training and I knew it was really hot out so I brought you this. I thought that maybe you'd be thirsty,"

Kai looked at the water bottle, then back up at Hilary. He cocked an eyebrow quickly before graciously taking it from her grasp. He turned the bottle cap and took a lengthy gulp at its contents. He had drunk a fair amount of the unfrozen water then placed the chilled bottle by his feet.

"Thanks," he said casually, causing Hilary to gush a little.

"Oh, it was nothing," she cooed as she stared down at her feet. If she looked at him, she knew that she'd blush and blow her cover... not that staring at her feet was helping but she felt that it was better than having him see that her face was bright red from looking at him.

"Did you think of bringing me water before or after you started watching me do chin ups?"

Hilary's eyes widened slightly and she couldn't help but look up at him. Had he seen her watching him? How long had he known she was on the patio? Hilary's mind began to race a mile a minute as she tried thinking of what to say next.

She didn't want to go and say anything stupid or anything that gave her away, until suddenly it hit her. Hilary sent Kai a smirk as she said; "In my defence, I was watching for educational and health purposes,"

Hilary smiled to herself as Kai reached up and continued on with his chin ups. She had caught his little smirk just before he brought his arms up to continue with his training.

The brunette turned on her heels and walked back to the dojo with a confident stride. Her little joke, compliments of Ray, last night when she was leaving, had actually amused him. Hilary could help but feel a little bad ass as she pulled the back door open and slipped inside to start on that Macaroni pie.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was exactly six o'clock when the Blade breakers came knocking at the neighbours' backyard door and it only took moments for one of the girls to answer. Kat lifted the locking hatch on the door and pulled it open, allowing them all access.

Hilary was the first to walk in, followed by Daichi then Kenny, Max, Tyson, Ray, Kai and lastly Hiro, who trailed behind, still slightly hung over. Each greeted her except for Kai and all, except the cold slate haired captain earned a small 'hey' in response.

Kat had shot both Tyson and Kai curious yet annoyed looks as she closed the door behind her house mates' guests.

Her cold blue eyes looked the blue and slate haired boys over before she said, "I thought you were band from our house... hmm..." with that she walked off.

Tyson cocked an eyebrow at her. Kai and Kat had some obvious yet unspoken animosity but he couldn't understand why she was being rude to him. He thought that maybe it still had something to do with the battle situation yesterday but he and Toni had squashed their misunderstanding and he assumed that everyone else in her household would hold nothing against him, but evidently he was wrong.

Much to his surprise Tyson didn't bother to ask why Kat had been so cold to him. Oddly enough, it didn't bother him as much as it had done when he was having his antagonizing dispute with Toni.

The Blade breakers kept close to one another as they looked around the backyard. It had to be about the same size as their backyard but since it didn't harbour as many decorations, or garden-like attributes it felt slightly bigger.

There were bushes and flowers located along the fence. They weren't planted as of yet but the few gardening tools lying around made them assume that one of the girls – not exactly sure which one – was planning on setting up a lovely garden around the perimeter of their yard.

Somewhat near the far left corner, were the barbeque, a sparkling new granite fire pit and a few cushioned lawn chairs surrounding it. The fire pit didn't look as if it had been built into the ground, instead it looked like had been bought the same way they all were seeing it.

"I assume they have big plans for this yard..." Ray stated as his golden eyes surveyed the place from corner to corner.

"Not really. Naomi does though. She's kind of an environmentalist but she also has some sort of 'vision' for the place," The blade breakers had nearly jumped out of their skin as J-Dymez came walking up behind them. "What it do?"

"Hey," Hilary greeted as she held out a dish full of macaroni pie. "We're really glad that you invited us to you're barbeque,"

J-Dymez shrugged as she removed the large rectangular dish from Hilary's grasp, "Glad you could make it, I guess. You guys can sit down..." with that, she turned on her heels and headed back inside.

Although J-Dymez had offered them seating, the Blade breakers remained standing. The barbeque was going but other than seeing Kat and J-Dymez, the other girls were no where to be found. They all assumed they were still inside but they remained in their place along the concrete path leading to the backyard patio, around the house and to the front steps.

A few moments of awkward silence past as the neighbours came piling out of the house. They seemed to be wearing regular barbeque attire but the odd thing was that they all had on the exact same zip up hoodie. Each girl just had on a different colour.

"Welcome to our yard!" Tiky exclaimed. She and Torah were the first to walk up to the Blade breakers. Instead of handshakes, like they were expecting, Torah and Tiky gave them each a good squeeze.

They were going to give Kai a hug as well but the frightening glare he sent them told them to stay clear. Instead, they just smiled at the slate haired captain and said hello. Receiving a 'Hn' back.

"Its so nice having you guys here!" Tiky clapped as she and Torah slightly hopped around.

"And you brought Macaroni pie!" Torah exclaimed, "Who made it?"

"Ray and I did," Hilary notified. She and the Chinese eighteen, going on nineteen, year old smiled.

"Ooh, its good by the way!" Torah and Tiky then gave them a thumbs up.

"You tried some already?" Ray asked.

"Like you could stop them from trying any..." Toni remarked as she walked up behind her two friends, "They were dying to taste it, just because of the cupcakes you brought yesterday,"

"Wow, those didn't give you food poisoning?" Tyson remarked, earning an elbow in the stomach from Hilary. She shot him a stern yet subtle look that told him to be quiet as she turned back and thanked the girls. She also told them how happy she was that they had taken such and liking to her and Ray's cooking.

"Better than what we get around here," Torah whispered. Even though she hadn't intended on anyone but Tiky hearing, Ray had caught her comment and couldn't help but ask about it.

"Kierra is under the impression she can cook," Toni responded while Torah and Tiky made frightened faces, as if reliving whatever Toni was speaking of.

"Hey!" Kierra said as she walked up behind them, then forced her way between Toni and Tiky, "I can so cook!"

"Oh really?" Toni nearly chucked as she turned to Kierra and gave her a sarcastic look, "You do know that if you have to put eggs in something... you're suppose to crack the shells!"

"I know that..._now_!"

"I think it might be a bad idea for us to be eating here..." Max joked as he and a few of his teammates began to snickered.

"No worries. J's doing the barbequing," Tiky notified.

"Yeah, that way we won't be sued for attempted murder," Torah joked.

"Hey! You guys said you liked my chicken a la orange!" Kierra said as she folded her arms.

"Till we found out you didn't use chicken..." Tiky mumbled, causing the entire group to laugh, even harbouring a subtle smirk from Kai.

"Then what did she use?" Max asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"My therapist says never to talk about it," Torah joked in a high pitched voice, then pretended to cry as she relived the event in her head, once again, causing her neighbours to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, enough with Kierra's food poison, everyone sit. The food'll be done soon," J-Dymez announced as she made her way over to the barbeque with more meat to place on it.

Tiky, Torah and Kierra led the Blade breakers to the lawn chairs as the other girls of the group trailed behind. Once everyone found a place to sit, Naomi immediately started asking if anyone wanted anything to drink.

The Blade breakers said they didn't mind not having anything to drink but the girl had insisted on it so they agreed.

Naomi grinned, "Okay, we have a variety of stuff,"

"If I'm going to suffer through her chipper attitude, I might as well be intoxicated," Kai mumbled to Ray.

"We do have liquor actually! Vodka and rum to be exact" Tiky said, popping up between the two.

Kai and Ray jumped slightly but tried not to show Tiky any sign that she had scared them. With furrowed eyebrows Kai inquired; "Where did you come from?"

"My mom,"

Ray burst out laughing as Kai rolled his eyes. These neighbours were going to be a piece of work but overall... he actually kind of took a liking to them.

"Okay so we'll bring out everything and you can choose what you like from the table we'll set up over by the rose bush, is that okay?" Naomi asked, her voice still as small and timid as a mouse.

"That would be nice." Hilary smiled, "Do you need any help? I'm sure the boys would love to help,"

"If it means first choice at the food, I'm there," Tyson stated.

"Oh no, no, you're our guests," Naomi said, as Torah and Tiky came up on either side of her and threw their arms around her shoulders.

"Now dear sister! You wouldn't deny these awesome boys their assistance would you?" Torah said to her elder sister.

"Yeah," Tiky jumped in, "They're offering to help and it would be rude to deny their kindness... besides one of us may trip, completely ripping off one of their shirts to reveal rippling muscles that could cause a whole chain reaction of clothes just being torn off!"

Torah slapped Tiky in the arm, "You're not suppose to tell _EVERYONE_ the plan,"

"Hey! I just wanted to make sure Naomi knew before it all happened and she fainted! We don't need mother Teresa over here going to the hospital from a nose bleed,"

"Well if it happened at least one of them would catch her!"

Naomi hid her face in her hands as Torah and Tiky went back and forth with their nonsense. Toni's eyebrow twitched as she finally stood up and pushed the three of them towards the house.

"Just go and get the food already! Sheesh! Instead of standin' out here actin' like a coupla fools,"

"You see... just for that... you're not getting any macaroni pie!" Torah snapped.

"Not like the rest of us could have any anyway, I saw you and Tiky hide it!"

The Blade breakers tried to hold in their chuckles but it was strained. Their neighbours were a lot more down to earth than they expected and were rather amusing to be around.

Tiky and Torah blew raspberries at Toni as they followed Naomi into the house.

Toni shook her head as she placed her hands on her hips and apologized for her house mates' behaviour. The Blade breakers merely shook their heads and said that everything was fine and that they were actually enjoying Tiky and Torah's quirkiness.

"At least someone does," Toni mumbled as she rolled her eyes and made her way over to J-Dymez to check on the food.

"So," Hilary spoke, striking up a conversation with the rest of their currently present neighbours, "Is anyone else coming to this barbeque?"

Kierra shrugged, "Ming-Ming was invited, but I don't think she'll show,"

Daichi rolled his eyes while Kenny began fawning over the idea of Ming-Ming possibly slinking her way through the backyard gate.

"Other than Ming-Ming and you guys, we don't really know anyone in Tokyo..."

"Not that there's many people worth knowing," Kat stepped in, then folded her arms.

"That's not true. There are plenty of people you can get to know. If you want, we can introduce you to a few of the other beybladers that live here?"

Kierra wanted to agree and say sure but Kat shook her head; "They're not our kind of people,"

"What? You mean people with actual hearts and a bloodstream that doesn't run ice?"

Hilary's eyes widened as she turned to Kai. She wanted to smack him for being so rude but Kat had already walked over to glare down at him.

"This coming from you?" Kat retorted, "I have a heart actually. But at least mine isn't on loan from the bank,"

"Oh. That was a good one... did Ming-Ming write that for you?"

"How about I write my fist all over your face?"

"Ugh!" Hilary groaned as she placed her hands over her face, "It's only been two days and were already annoying the neighbours,"

"You know, you keep saying that like they're your neighbours! Bitch you don't live with us," Tyson stated as he glanced at Hilary.

The thin nymph turned her head to look at him as she kicked his shin, "Shut up!"

Tyson whimpered slightly as he rubbed his bruised tibia. "Harpy,"

"Insensitive jerk,"

Kat cocked an eyebrow at the two as she watched them glare daggers at one another, "Are you two going out or something,"

Tyson and Hilary turned to her with horrified expressions. The two, abruptly and loudly yelled to her that they were not a couple and began asking her how she could come to such a foolish assumption. Kat's eyes widened as she stepped back.

To her, she had merely asked a simple question but apparently they had taken it to great offense... the only one she wanted to offend at the moment was Kai.

"Think about it fish-wife. Do you honestly think someone like Tyson could get someone like Hilary?" Kai asked, directing his question towards Kat.

"Thank you Kai," Hilary thanked as she smiled at him and glared back at Tyson.

"Fish-wife?" Kat sneered as she looked down at Kai. He wasn't showing any facial emotions but there was no denying the smugness in his eyes. "I'm gonna spit in your food,"

"I have a question!" Kierra said, finally remerging herself in the conversation. Everyone turned to look at her as she said; "Can any of you tell me where the nearest mall is around here? I wanna go shopping..."

The group went silent as they stared at her with curious and slightly concerned looks... where the hell did that come from?

"What the hell did that have to do with what was going on?" Kat snapped.

"Nothing, I just wanted to know! I really need a pair of new shoes..."

Kat sent her a slightly shocked and annoyed look. She then turned to the Blade breakers and pointed at the long haired, clueless girl, "Every day... shit like that come out of her mouth _everyday_!"

As Kat went into a winded speech about Kierra being dropped on her head as a child, Tiky, Torah and Naomi came out of the house and began setting up a fold out table along with fruits, drinks, cups, plastic plates and utensils, condiment and a few sugary snacks like cookies, marshmallows and potato chips.

The three girls then announced that everything was set up. J-Dymez nodded and sent Toni over to the table, the barbequed chicken, burgers and ribs in hand.

"Sweet!" Tyson and Daichi exclaimed as they immediately got out of their seats and bolted for the table.

Hilary slapped her hand over her forehead as she prepared for embarrassment. She felt there was no doubt Daichi and Tyson were going to make pigs of themselves and disgrace the rest of the team.

As Tyson and Daichi grabbed their plates, the hungry duo reached into the meat dish. Toni swiftly turned and held out her foot to keep the two at bay.

"At least let me put it down first! My God!" she snapped and slid the large tray into an empty spot on the table.

Hilary nodded. Impressive... maybe these girls could handle the boys a lot better than she gave them credit for.

"Come and get it before these four eat it all!" Toni announced, pointing to Torah, Tiky, Tyson and Daichi.

"Hey!" Torah bellowed as she put her hands on her hips, "I'm a growing girl!"

"The only thing that's growing is your breasts! I swear those are what you and Tiky are feeding when you guys eat,"

Tiky and Torah gasp as they covered their busts.

"It's not our fault God blessed us!" Tiky proclaimed as she and Torah trotted over to the plates and picked up ones of their own

* * *

><p>Dinner had been rather eventful. The Blade breakers had seen an epic rib eating contest and much to their surprise... Naomi had won, without even dropping barbeque sauce on herself. Tiky, Toni, Tyson, Kai and Kat were in the mist of taking vodka shots while the rest of the group just laid back and chilled.<p>

Everyone was either laughing, holding interesting conversations or just having themselves a good time. A few of the neighbours and the Blade breakers had even begun pairing off.

The most obvious pairing seemed to be J-Dymez and Hiro.

She had brought him a couple of pain killers and the two were currently cozying up on one of the large laid-back lawn chairs. The others weren't sure what the elders of their groups were discussing but that was the most time any of them had seen J-Dymez crack an actual smile.

"They seem to be having fun," Max whispered as he nudged Torah to look in the elder couple's direction.

Torah giggled, "I bet they're gonna sleep together,"

Max chuckled back in response, "No way! You think so?"

"Pft! For sure! She's totally gonna let Hiro in her cookie jar,"

The two juniors giggled as they finished roasting their marshmallows over the granite fire pit. They were currently in the process of making smores but since Torah wasn't a fan of chocolate she was actually just roasting five marshmallows for herself on a thin, long stainless steel fondue stick.

"You shouldn't say that Torah," Naomi said as she licked the tip of her fingers clean of chocolate, "She only just met Hiro,"

"Oh and that'll stop her from letting him ride the J-Express?" The blue eyed girl said sarcastically as she lifted her hand as if grasping an invisible pull horn as she said; "All aboard, toot, toot!"

Ray and Max couldn't help but break out into hysterical laughter. Naomi wanted to tell her sister that what she had said was very inappropriate but she couldn't get the words passed her hidden smile.

"That was so wrong," The blue eyed blonde laughed as he held out his hand for Torah to give him a high five.

"That's how I roll baby!" Torah said as she and Max's hands clapped together.

"I think they'd make a cute couple," Ray stated as he squeezed his two gram crackers around his half melted marshmallow and chocolate chuck, "I think Hiro and J-Dymez would make a really cute couple. He's a really good guy,"

"Which is why he's getting some of her chocolate, if you know what I mean," Torah and Max continued to laugh at her inappropriate jokes while Ray just shook his head and bit into the tasty snack in his hand.

"Sorry about my sister... she's really... raw..." Naomi apologized as she glanced at Ray from the corner of her eye. He shrugged and said that he didn't mind and that Torah's jokes were actually pretty funny.

Naomi smiled as she glanced over at Hiro and J canoodling near the patio.

"They do make a cute couple..." she stated. Ray nodded in agreement.

"Yeah..." he smiled then turned to the quiet girl to his left, "So tell me. Do you all beyblade?"

Naomi paused as she licked the last of melted chocolate from her fingers, "No. Tiky and J don't beyblade. Neither does Kierra. They're our team support. J is our coach, Kierra's our engineer and Tiky is our strategist and Vice captain,"

Ray's golden eyes widened from surprise, "So you beyblade?"

Although her skin was dark, Ray could tell Naomi was blushing. She smiled and turned away as she nodded.

"Cool. I didn't think you'd beyblade,"

"We're a team actually..." the purple eyed young woman stated in her small voice, "We're called the Sweet and Sour Candies..."

"Cute name,"

"Thank you," Naomi gushed as she covered her smile with her hands.

"Aww, don't do that," Ray laughed as he pulled Naomi's hands from her face, "You have a pretty smile,"

Naomi wanted to hide her grin again but since Ray was currently holding her hands captive she merely tried turning away. Ray laughed again as he attempted to make her look at him, "I'm serious, you have a very pretty smile, you shouldn't hide it."

Naomi glanced at the Chinese boy as she continued to smile, "Thank you..." she beamed.

"OOH!"

Ray and Naomi turned to Torah and Max who were currently making kissy faces at them.

"Yeah, sistah's got it for the cat boy! ME-_OW_!"

Naomi gave them a stunned horrified look as she began to blush again. Ray on the other hand just laughed and told the two to be quiet.

* * *

><p>Hilary shook her head and laughed as Kai, Kat, Tyson, Toni and Tiky slammed down their shot glasses.<p>

"I totally finished mine before yours Hiwatari!" Kat stated her speaking slightly slurred.

"So," Kai said with his purple eyes narrowing at her. His speech wasn't slurred but Hilary could tell that he was a little tipsy. "I'm a whole shot ahead,"

"No-" She paused to hiccup, "Fucking way! I downed..." Kat paused as she began counting how many shots she had done. Since she currently didn't possess the sense to quietly count she began doing it on her fingers, "This much!" she spat, holding up seven fingers.

"Who cares? Pass the rum!" Tiky guffawed as she held out her hand for the bottle.

"There isn't any more rum," Toni noted as she poured everyone another vodka shot.

Tiky's cheerful faces fell blank as she stared at Toni, "No rum? Where's the rum gone? WHY IS THE RUM GONE?"

"Bitch you drank it!"

"...Oh!"

The lot of them began to laugh uncontrollably as Tiky whined about drinking all of the rum. Hilary couldn't help but shake her head as she looked at the half drunken group then around the rest of the yard.

She had actually prepared herself for the worst but this barbeque had gone a lot better than she had expected it too. Kat and Kai weren't even really fighting, but that was courtesy of the alcohol.

"Fine, I'll get more rum!" Toni barked as she wobbly made her way to her feet.

"I'll- I'll come with you!" Tyson suggested as he as well, wobbly made his way to his feet. The two then walked off into the house to retrieve more liquor.

* * *

><p>Tyson and Toni stumbled around slightly as they looked around the kitchen for the extra bottles of Rum and Vodka. Even though the bottles were sitting on the counter, the two drunken teens kept roaming past them, thinking they were in some sort of secret hiding place.<p>

"Damn it! Where the hell is that Rum and Vodka?" Toni stammered as she stood in the middle of the kitchen

Tyson didn't say anything as he continued to look in the fridge and then the cupboards.

"Damn," Tyson slurred, closing the last cupboard, "I don't see it!" he leaned against the counter and collided with something solid. The sound of glass hitting each other caused him to turn around and he smirked as he held up the two bottles they had been looking for. "I found 'em!"

Toni began laughing as she took one of the bottles and playfully smacked Tyson in the arm, "Stupid! They were behind you!" she giggled a little bit, causing Tyson to do the same.

"No! You're stupid," the blue haired blader shot back, bring his hands down.

Toni shook her head as she continued to laugh again. She poked Tyson in the chest and began to run her finger down the front of his body, the same way she had down at their match yesterday. "No... You're stupid,"

Tyson smirked as he wrapped his arms around her. He then pulled Toni closer to him as his mouth hovered inches away from hers, "Well, you're sexy,"

"Bitch, I know!" Toni laughed as she allowed Tyson to kiss her. She placed the bottle back down on the counter. She removed his baseball cap and began entangling her fingers through his long hair. She undid his ponytail as he placed his bottle on the floor and began running his hands up and down her arms.

The two pulled back to catch their breath before bringing each other back to continue kissing one another.

Tyson was running his hands along Toni's sides until she flinched and jumped back.

"What?" Tyson asked dumbly he reached out to her but she evaded his grasp and placed her hand lightly on her right side.

"Let's bring the bottles out," she stated and went to pick up the bottle near Tyson's feet but he scooped her up again and held her close.

"In a minute," he breathed as he tried kissing her again but he received the same jump-back reaction as before.

"Tyson that hurts," Toni said sternly as he began furrowing his eyebrows.

"What?" he whined as he reached for her again. He caught her this time but he had grabbed the same spot where she had said it hurt, and she yelped.

If she had been sober, Toni would have probably pushed Tyson away or punched him for unzipping her hoodie but she watched as he gently pulled up her tank top to reveal a gauze bandage at her side.

"What the fuck happened there?"

Toni pulled herself away from him; pulled her shirt back down and zipped up her hoodie, "Nothing,"

"It- doesn't look like nothing,"

"Just drop it!" She stated as she went to wrap her arms around his neck again but even when drunk, Tyson was stubborn. He was curious about the bandage and he wanted answers.

He held her wrist with one hand as he unzipped her hoodie again to point at her injury.

"That wasn't from when I tripped you in the grocery store was it?"

Toni pulled away once again as she glared at him, "Just- Drop it," she drunkenly stammered

* * *

><p>Hilary made sure all the Blade breakers were present and accounted for before they all headed back to their dojo. She thanked the girls, once again, for having them all over as she forced the boys in the direction of their house.<p>

Most of the girls were there watching them, waving goodbye and Hilary kept a close watch on Kai and Tyson. The whole reason as to why they were currently leaving was because Tyson and Toni, once again had gotten into an argument, but this time Toni had slapped Tyson across the face and they weren't letting the rest know why.

Hilary was only watching Kai because he was tipsy and she really wasn't in the mood for him to injure himself.

As she walked the Blade breakers up the steps of the dojo, she got a call from her mother. She sent the boys inside while she spoke with her mother on the phone. Hilary rolled her eyes as Mrs. Tachibana went into her usual '_its past sunset, where are you?'_ routine.

Hilary allowed her mom to finish speaking before she apologized for not calling. She spoke to her in her sweetest voice before asking if it would be possible for her to spend the night at the dojo and that a few of the boys needed her assistance.

Hilary held the phone away from her ear as her mother began screeching about how it would be a cold day in hell before she'd let her daughter sleep in a house full of teenaged boys, especially Kai, since Mrs. Tachibana was still under the impression that he was her boyfriend.

"Mom!" Hilary whined as she finally placed the phone back to her ear, "They need me! I'm friends with a few girls next door. If I tell them to come over will you let me stay?"

Mrs. Tachibana went silent for a moment before saying; "I'll be there in ten minutes to meet these girls. If I don't meet them; you are coming home with me. Is that understood?"

Hilary squealed as she agreed to her mother's terms. She thanked her and asked if it were possible for her to bring over a few stuff like her tooth brush, pyjamas and a change of clothes. Mrs. Tachibana agreed and hung up the phone.

Hilary jumped up and down on the porch giddily. Sure she had to bug the girls next door into tricking her mother that they were going to sleepover at the dojo with her but at least she didn't have to go home.

"What are you so happy about?" she heard someone say from the doorway. As she turned she realized it was Kai.

She blushed, hoping that he hadn't just seen her act like that. Jumping around like some infantile school girl.

"Oh, sorry!" she laughed, mostly out of embarrassment, "My mom said I could sleepover. She's just coming by to drop off a few things,"

Kai nodded as he acknowledged this information and stepped onto the porch with the brunette.

"Shouldn't you be lying down?"

Kai shook his head, "I'm tipsy, not drunk,"

"I still think you should lie down or something. I'll get you some ginger ale," Hilary was about to run in and get Kai a can or glass of ginger ale but without even straining himself, he caught hold of Hilary's arm and forced her back out onto the porch.

"Are you always this helpful or only to me?"

Hilary stood there in front of him not knowing what to say. He was more observant that she credited him for and he had noticed a few things she thought she had been quite sly about. Bringing him water, watching him train, making him food, taking care of him... she thought he hadn't noticed any of that.

She wasn't sure if she should be pleased or if she should be worrying.

"I help all of you. You guys are my friends," Hilary said as she slipped from his grasp, "You're no different,"

He smirked as she ran his fingers through his erratic hair. "Really? Kinda feels that way..."

"What do you mean?" she backed away, right into one of the porch posts as Kai approached her, getting a bit to deep in her personal space.

"What I mean is that, I think you do a little extra for me, you know. Like..." he placed his hand against the post, just past her head. Hilary could feel her mouth go dry and her heartbeat increase. "Like you're trying to prove something..."

"I don't know what you mean..." Hilary did her best to remove any suspicion Kai had against her, but she couldn't tell what was running through his mind. Kai was difficult to read and she didn't know where to go with anything.

"Look, I already like you Hilary. There's no need to try to get me to like you or whatever you're doing,"

Hilary exhaled a sigh of relief. He thought she was trying to make him like her. She was but not in the friendly way like what he meant. Hilary smiled as she patted Kai on the shoulder and slipped past him and down the front steps.

"I know you like me Kai," she said as she began walking away, '_Just not the same way I like you..._'

"Where are you going?"

She sent him a cute smile as she looked over her shoulder at him, "Just making the necessary precautions for me to stay over," she stated as she walked up the neighbours steps and rang the doorbell.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Hilary accepted her overnight bag with a cheerful smile as her mother scanned the faces of the four neighbours she had asked to take part in her little plot. Mrs. Tachibana's piercing brown eyes roamed over Hilary and the girls and although her daughter's friend seemed nervous they were very nice girls in her opinion.

Although she had only heard Hilary mention them once of twice since they moved next door to the dojo, they seemed to be trust worthy so Mrs. Tachibana chalked their antsy behaviour up to her over powering demeanour. She hadn't intended on scaring the girls but she did what she had to in order to make sure that her daughter wasn't planning on doing anything she shouldn't.

As she always said; _it would be a cold day in hell before she'd allow her daughter to stay overnight in a house full of teenage boys._ At least there would be a few girls around.

"Remember, you can call me or your father anytime to pick you up. Don't hesitate to call if you need to and-" Before Mrs. Tachibana could break off into one of her long winded speeches, Hilary began forcing her mother down the patio stairs and out to her car.

"Yes, yes, I know mom," Hilary assured as she continued to push her mother to her car.

Mrs. Tachibana rooted herself in place just a few feet from her vehicle; prevent Hilary from pushing her any further. She turned to her daughter and gave her a stern face, "I'm serious Hilary. Your father and I are just a phone call away,"

Hilary sighed heavily but couldn't help but smile. She knew her mother was worried about the fact that she was spending the night with a house full of boys but she had four friends staying with her... well that's what she had told her mother. She thought that maybe that would be enough to get her to ease off but apparently not.

"Mom, I'll be fine," Hilary said, patting her mother on the back and urging her back to her car once again.

Mrs. Tachibana nodded and unlocked the car door. Just before climbing in she paused.

"Hilary... where is Kai sleeping?"

Hilary's cheeks instantly grew hot at the sound of Kai's name. She had tried over and over again to clarify that Kai nor any of the Blade breakers were her boyfriends but her mother hadn't taken the hint. She still believed Kai was Hilary's boyfriend and as much as Hilary would've liked for that to be true, it wasn't.

To hide her evident embarrassment, Hilary rolled her eyes and forced her mother fully into her car.

"In his room, mom. Ray's offered to give up his room for us girls to sleep in and he's going to be bunking with Kai," Although it wasn't true, Hilary just wanted her mother to leave.

There was a moment of silence before Mrs. Tachibana slid in and pulled the car door closed. She put her key in the ignition and brought the engine to life just before turning to her daughter to say;

"Alright... I don't want you thinking I don't trust you Hilary. I know I raised a young woman to be trusted, but - and don't take this personally- but I didn't raise the Blade breakers so I can't fully trust them,"

Even though Hilary wanted to tell her mother that the Blade breakers... except Tyson, would never do anything to hurt her, Hilary just smiled and gave her mother a hug through her open window. She knew what her mother had meant by what she said and she was glad that her mother cared so much. She just wished that one day she could make her mother see just how great the Blade breakers really were.

"Thanks mom," Hilary quickly kissed her mother on the cheek and backed away to give her mother room to drive off.

As soon as Mrs. Tachibana had turned off the road, Hilary turned back to the girls on the porch and gave them a thumbs up. In turn the girls gave her a thumbs up back and waited for her to return to the patio.

"Damn, your momma's scary!" Torah exclaimed as Hilary made her way up the steps. Naomi, Kierra and Tiky agreed in unison.

"Yeah! I thought she was gonna, like... eat us," Tiky said with slight hiccups. Her drunkenness was wearing off but it still wasn't fully gone.

Hilary giggled then shrugged, "I know. My mom's kind of overwhelming but she means well. Thank you so much for helping me by the way,"

"No problem," Naomi smiled as she and Hilary hugged.

Hilary then went to each girl and hugged them to thank them all individually for going along with her plot to stay overnight at the dojo. As she pulled away from Torah, an idea struck her. Why pretend to have the girl's sleepover? Why didn't they really just spend the night?

"Hey! Why don't you guys really sleepover? It would be so much fun having more girls in the house. I'm sure the boys wouldn't mind,"

Instant smiles came to Tiky, Kierra and Torah's faces but Naomi's expression read sceptical.

"I don't think so... not tonight at least."

Hilary sulked, "Why not?"

"Yeah, why not!" The other three whined as they all turned to the timid girl.

Naomi bit her lip briefly before stating once again that it probably wouldn't be the best of ideas.

"But they're our friends!" Kierra griped.

"Yeah! It would be so fun!" Torah whined.

"And they may have rum!" Tiky added

"WE MIGHT SEE THEM SHIRTLESS!" the three girls cried in unison as they all looked at Naomi with puppy dog eyes.

Naomi wanted to state once again that sleeping over at the Blade breakers dojo wasn't a good idea but her resolve was breaking. She became conflicted between agreeing to sleepover and not sleeping over but just as she was about to say something, J-Dymez stepped out onto their porch and called for the girls to return back to the house and that there were errands to run.

Kierra, Torah and Tiky groaned while Naomi sighed with relieve. At least she was no longer on the podium.

Hilary wanted to beg J-Dymez to allow the girls to stay over but there was a hint of annoyance in her voice so Hilary chose to do otherwise.

The girls said their goodbyes as they all trotted down the steps and made their way back over to their house. Hilary waved goodbye, shouted goodnight to J-Dymez and headed inside.

* * *

><p>Hilary watched as she once again witnessed the neighbours pile into a taxi and speed off. It had been the second time in the two nights they had moved in and Hilary couldn't help but be curious as to where they were heading off to.<p>

The brunette snapped out of her trance at the sound of Tyson groaning. Hiro had brought him an icepack and had placed it on his little bother's forehead. Hilary turned to look at the group seated in the living room.

Daichi was caught up watching television, Max, Kenny and Hiro were all staring at Tyson, curious as to if he'd be okay or not and Ray and Kai just sat on the two seater couch talking quietly about God knows what.

Hilary's eyes roamed for a place to sit but other than the floor there was no place she'd fit... except on the couch Kai and Ray were sitting on but she didn't want to interrupt their conversation so she stayed where she stood and turned her head back to look out the window aimlessly.

A gentle tap on her hand was what caused Hilary to nearly jump out of her skin. She turned back to the crowd of boys and noticed that it had actually been Kai who had tapped her on the hand. He was currently slung over the couch arm, his two toned hair all over the place. He had little hints of bags under his eyes but like always, he looked gorgeous.

"Wanna sit?" he asked, resting his chin on the couch arm as he looked up at her.

Hilary forced a smile as she felt her heart beat quicken. "No, I'm fine," she replied, a little louder than she should have but she only did it because she wanted to mask the loud beating in her ears.

Much to her surprise, Kai took hold of her hand and lightly tugged her closer to the couch. He looked her dead in the eye and instead of asking, he stated that she should sit down. Hilary wanted to fight it but she knew her cheeks were turning red.

The fact that Kai was currently holding her hand and ordering her to sit next to him was making her mind race and wonder what exactly was going on in that perplexing mind of his. Just then he took hold of both her hands and pulled her forward. He moved back just enough and just in time as she came tripping onto the couch.

Ray cocked an eyebrow. He as well as Hilary were both surprised by Kai's actions but the cat-like teen spoke not a word.

Hilary looked around the room to see if any of the other Blade breakers had seen. She knew Ray had seen what Kai had done but she didn't seem as embarrassed about that.

Since the others were so occupied with whatever else they were doing none of them even noticed the action and Hilary sighed with relief. If they had seen it she knew there would be a lot of staring and possible questioning and quite frankly she didn't have any of the answers and she knew Kai would probably just tell them all to mind their own business, bringing a load of problems and suspicions she really didn't need.

Without having any say in the matter, Hilary properly seated herself on the couch's arm. She then glanced at Kai from the corner of her eye.

She was debating on whether she should say thank you or not. He offered her a seat and had made room for her but the way he did it wasn't really something to say thank you to but then again... it was Kai she were talking about.

"Thanks," Hilary squeaked. Kai merely shrugged and said that it wasn't a problem.

Then another shocker, Kai then fixed his position so that he was now leaning against Hilary. He rested his head against her arm nonchalantly and continued talking to Ray as if everything was normal.

Although Kai was speaking to him, Ray couldn't help but hold a slight expression of surprise. He glanced at the both of them but returned to the conversation.

Hilary could have sworn she saw Ray smirk, but only for a brief second.

That thought didn't last very long since having Kai currently resting against her was what Hilary's mind kept focusing on. Kai was never a physical person, so what was this all about? Hilary wanted to ponder on the thought longer but she really didn't want her heart beating any faster so she tried her hardest to focus on everything else.

The T.V... Daichi was actually flipping through the channels so that wouldn't work. Tyson... oh yeah... that would keep her interest. Hilary couldn't help but roll her eyes but she quietly sighed with dread. The only thing that she could focus on was Ray and Kai's conversation.

As she tuned in, Hilary instantly heard something that caught her interest. They were talking about the neighbours.

"I don't know..." Ray commented, "They're really nice but there is something a bit odd about them. I had my arm around Naomi and she flinched. Apparently she has eight stitches in her shoulder and she wouldn't tell me why,"

"Arm around her?" Kai smirked as he cocked his head to the side. Hilary had been wondering the same thing but since she wasn't originally part of the conversation she didn't ask as to why Ray had his arm around Naomi.

The Chinese teen smirked back at his friend and jestingly kicked him in the shin.

"Shut up, I was just being friendly,"

"I bet you were," Kai said still smirking.

"Shut up and let me finish," Ray grinned, averting their chat back to his main point, "Tyson said Toni had a bandage on her side, just below her ribcage and Hiro said he noticed that Kat was walking with a little bit of a limp and that Torah seemed to be in pain every so often,"

Kai cocked his head to the other said as he waited for Ray to continue.

"Naomi told me that they're a beyblade team. She, Torah, Kat and Toni are all bladers while the others are their team support,"

Kai furrowed his eyebrows together. He knew there had to be some sort of connection but due to the alcohol in his system, he really couldn't put the pieces together. If he remembered, he'd think about it tomorrow.

"I think there's something a little off about them as well," Hiro said, popping up out of no where. He was currently standing behind the couch and was now leaning on it with his arms. "When I was talking to Janielle, I was able to get the same information... that they were a beyblade team. I asked if they had been to any tournaments or anything of the sort but she kept changing the subject,"

Kai and Ray looked up at their blue haired elder and smirked.

"Janielle?" the two said in unison.

Hiro cocked an eyebrow briefly before sending them both a smirk back, "Can we focus?"

"Hey, I'm just saying, we know her as J-Dymez but apparently you're on _Janielle_ terms," Kai commented.

"I like that name... Janielle. Never thought that'd be her real name," Ray put in.

Both boys got a swift smack in the side of their heads, "Shut up and focus please,"

Hilary really wanted to immerse herself into the conversation but she wasn't sure if she should. As the boys spoke Hilary had pieced together a few truths. The girls next door were a beyblading team and currently all of those that were actual beybladers possessed some minor injuries.

Hilary even had a few things to add to the conversation but once again. She didn't want to interrupt.

"I saw them get into a taxi yesterday," Kai stated, "When I dropped Hilary home, right?" he then looked up at the brunette.

Hilary stared down at him slightly wide eyed but she nodded to confirm that that he and she had indeed seen them climb into a cab. At least she had gotten what she wanted. To be immersed in the conversation.

"They could've gone clubbing though," Hiro proposed but Ray told the blue haired coach that he and Kai had actually seen when the girls had returned and that their clothes were tattered and they looked beaten and tired.

Hiro was about to propose the idea of the girls possibly going to a rave but they really didn't seem like the types. He ran his fingers through his hair as he straightened up his back.

"Well, there's definitely something strange about the neighbours. I'll ask the others tomorrow and see what I can find out. I've had a few suspicions since they battled Tyson yesterday,"

Kai and Ray nodded as they all watched Hiro make his way out of the living room. In the mean time, he was going to his room to sleep.

Max agreed with the idea of turning in early and offered to help Tyson to his room. Tyson refused Max's help and got to his feet but he stumbled and nearly tripped, forcing both Max and Kenny to help their friend to his room.

Daichi remained glued to the T.V. which left Hilary, Kai and Ray on the loveseat. Without warning, Ray got to his feet and moved to the three seater couch in order to give Hilary more room to sit down. The golden eyed boy sent Hilary a quick, mischievous look before dropping himself to lie down on the larger couch.

Hilary's chest began to hurt slightly as her heart started beating against her ribs. What was that look for? She couldn't help but think that maybe Ray knew something she didn't... or something that he shouldn't.

Many questions were blaring across her brain but she kept her cool and her face as normal as possible. She didn't know what Ray knew or if he knew anything so she would try her best to not let any suspicion or answers appear to him before she could figure anything out.

Kai swiftly changed his position again and allowed Hilary full access to the couch. She slid in the spot he had been previously occupying and tried her best to keep a fair distance away from him but apparently he had other plans.

Once again he leaned against her but this time his head was nearly in her lap. Kai placed one of his hands behind his head and turned to look at Ray.

"What do you think of the neighbours?" he asked. He didn't seem genuinely interested in the answer but Kai felt the need to ask.

Ray merely shrugged as he glanced at Kai briefly and then return to gaze at the television.

"I'm not sure. They're interesting girls but I'm curious as to where they go in those neon outfits of theirs..."

Kai 'Hn'ed, shrugged then closed his eyes, leaving Hilary to sit there with his head on her lap, frantically wondering what to do.

* * *

><p>A short brunette girl sat behind a messy counter listening to music as she fiddled around with a busted and broken beyblade. She was no more than five foot three and rather thin. Her eyes were a pale green and her skin a healthy peach-orange colour.<p>

She wore a white and purple, polka dotted head wrap around her medium length brown hair and a black tank top with a light blue, oil and grease stained shirt over it. She also wore a pair of beige coloured pantaloon typed shorts and heavy black boots.

She was so focused on the beyblade in her hand that she didn't even notice the familiar faces walking up to her desk.

A bang on the counter top was what brought the girl back to reality. She jumped as she removed her oversized DJ headphones and looked at the faces that beckoned for her attention. She sent them all a toothy grin as she placed the beyblade down.

"'EY!" she greeted, "What brings you all back here? Lookin' to win some extra parts?"

"Not exactly, LaLa. We actually came for an update on the attack ring,"

The girl known as LaLa paused and rubbed her chin as she thought about what she had been told. She then disappeared behind the messy counter and brought back a huge black binder. LaLa flipped through it until she found the page she needed. She used her tiny pointing finger to scroll down the chart she was looking at until she found what she needed.

"Titanium attack ring right?"

One of the people before LaLa rolled her eyes and began massaging her temples. She had a major headache and she really couldn't deal with LaLa's bubbly personality at the moment. The girl massaging her temples grunted.

"Of course the titanium attack ring LaLa! What else do we use?"

LaLa looked up at the irritated miss and frowned, "Sorry! It slipped my mind,"

"That's why we call you LaLa," another girl smiled then held out her fist for LaLa to pound. LaLa smiled as her fist lightly bumped into the other girl's fist.

"You know it,"

"So what's the story on the attack ring girl? We don't have much time before the U.B.T," a shorter girl stated as she rubbed her head as well.

"Yeah I know... and I'm sorry Toni. We have the attack ring but we were only able to get five and there are a few bids for them so..."

Toni grunted as she slapped her hand against the counter top in annoyance, "We have to battle for it?"

LaLa nodded as she closed the large binder. "Boss' orders... Titanium attack rings are high quality merchandise. Everybody wants one and we only have five so..."

"Yeah, yeah I know," Toni huffed as she put her hand on her forehead. The alcohol was removing itself from her system and it was giving her a headache. She was in no shape to blade but if she wanted her attack ring it looked like she was going to have to suck it up and tough it out.

"Who matched our bid?" Naomi asked.

"Uh... D.J. and his goons,"

Torah's big blue eyes went wide as she looked at LaLa, "D.J.?"

LaLa nodded, "Says he'll battle you guys anytime this week for it,"

Kat groaned as she clenched her teeth together. She had been the one massaging her temples the whole time and the current news she was receiving was making her head hurt even more.

"What the fuck is that kid's problem? Why doesn't he and his douche bags of a team just battle someone else?"

LaLa shrugged, "He matched your bet and since you both can't bring any more money for the ring you gotta battle it out... thems the rules,"

"But we need the ring!" Naomi said, her tone of voice filled with worry.

"I know but its D.J. you know how he is..."

"He's just doing this to mess with us..." Torah finally said, folding her arms in slight annoyance.

"Aw man," Kierra whined as she went searching through her pockets for the pieces of paper J-Dymez had sent her out with. She sorted through the papers and once finding what she needed she read it and then looked back up at LaLa, "Are there teams to battle for parts,"

"Pft!" LaLa nearly laughed, "Always!"

"Okay, can we set up battles for parts and sell them back to you to gain more money for our bid?"

LaLa paused to think it over. After a few moments the short brunette looked up at the Sweet and Sour Candies with a worried look.

"What parts do you have to bid? You already sold me your old stuff..."

Kierra shrugged, "I don't know, J-Dymez just told me to ask..."

"So she's got something up her sleeve," she smiled as she took another binder from under the counter, "I'll schedule you guys in..."

The girls exchanged pleased looks while the two sisters high fived one another.

"That means we'll still be able to make it in time for the U.B.T without having to battle D.J." Naomi beamed.

"I don't know... D.J. seems set on messin' with you guys so watch out,"

"Thanks LaLa,"

LaLa shrugged and smiled as she wrote dates and times into a blank cell of a nearly full chart, "S'my job, I'll give Kierra and Tiky the dates, you girls can go and watch a few matches,"

"You're a bad bitch, LaLa," Torah exclaimed as she hugged the short girl over the counter then followed her team out into the battling area.

* * *

><p>Everyone had started heading off to bed and Hilary was currently searching through her overnight bag for her toothbrush, completely lost in thought. What had happened in the living room was on her mind and as much as she wanted to just let the whole thing rest she couldn't.<p>

Kai had acted very out of character. He was a lot more... she paused to think of the right words to use. He seemed more easy going, easier to talk to... more tolerable.

Don't get her wrong, she was always able to put up with Kai, regardless of what mood he was in but when he had alcohol in his system he seemed to be a slightly different person.

Sure he still did whatever the hell he felt like, like when he pulled her over the couch because she refused to sit on it in order to not interrupt his and Ray's conversation but the fact that he leaned against her afterwards was making her curious and slightly over eager.

Kai was never a physical person so him leaning against her was making Hilary's mind race. Of course her imagination came into work but everything that popped into her head that referred to Kai having any romantic feelings towards her, she quickly discarded.

It had to be the vodka, she thought and attempted to leave it at that. Once finding her toothbrush, Hilary got to her feet and made her way to the bathroom, hoping that none of the boys were occupying it. In all honestly, they spent more time in there than she did.

When Hilary reached the bathroom, she was pleased with the fact that no one was using it. The brunette stepped in and instantly went for the toothpaste to begin brushing her teeth.

Hilary nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Ray appear in the doorway.

"Oh, sorry, didn't know you were in here," he apologized.

Hilary spat into the sink before notifying him that it was an honest mistake and there was nothing to be sorry about.

The Chinese teen smiled as he remained in the bathroom doorway.

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Hilary asked. In response, Ray shook his head.

"No, saw the light on and came to turn it off... but since you're in here can I ask you something,"

Hilary went on with brushing her teeth and cocked an eyebrow at him through the mirror, "Sure..."

"Do you like Kai?"

Hilary spat into the sink from surprise. She really hadn't seen that question coming but from the look Ray and sent her earlier she should have.

So that spitting into the sink didn't blow her cover, Hilary turned to Ray, making a face as if she were about to laugh.

"Kai? Me, like Kai? No way! He's one of my best friends," '_Oh yeah Hil, nice save..._'

Ray raised an eyebrow as his golden eyes scanned over her. Hilary's efforts in making Ray think that she wasn't interested in Kai seemed to be working until he looked down at the toothbrush in her hand.

People always gave signs that signalled they were lying and Hilary was gripping her toothbrush a little too hard. If it wasn't made out of smooth plastic she'd probably hurt herself.

Ray smirked and said, "Are you sure? You're going to snap your toothbrush in half if you keep holding it like that,"

Hilary quickly looked down at her hand. Busted... she looked back up at Ray and wanted to stare daggers at him for being so observant but maybe if she kept her cool, she could still convince him that his assumptions were wrong.

"Look Ray, I don't have a thing for Kai. We're just friends,"

Ray shrugged as he straightened up and prepared to head back to his room, "Okay, I was just asking. If you thought I was going to tell him I wasn't,"

"I don't like Kai in that way..."

"Well," The cat-like male stopped as he looked over his shoulder at her, "Promise not to say I told you or mentioned anything but... what if Kai liked you?"

Hilary's eyes flashed shock but she managed to keep her cool. Kai liked her? She wanted to squeal but a sick realization set in. Ray could be lying. Although Ray was a trust worthy person, if he really wanted to know something there was no guarantee that he wouldn't stretch the truth a little to obtain the information he needed... after all... Kai and Hiro were his best friends and they could be rather underhanded at times, their underhandedness could have easily rubbed off on him.

Hilary took a few moments to carefully plan out her words before responding to what Ray had just said. She smiled warmly and said; "if Kai likes me, why doesn't he just tell me?"

Ray made a face as if contemplating what to say next. The cat boy then shrugged, "You know how Kai is..." and with that he went off to his room but not before stating to her that he thought they'd make a pretty cute couple.

Hilary went back to brushing her teeth and began staring at her reflection. She wasn't really focused on it since she was deep in thought again. These boys were going to drive her over the edge one day...

She began to think about what Ray had said. Did Kai really have an interest in her? Was that why he was being so... affectionate? There could be a hint of truth to it all but the brunette shook her head. Kai wasn't interested in her... Kai wasn't interested in anyone... Kai was Kai and he was never one to speak of such things as crushes or anything of that sort so Ray must've been pulling her chain but Hilary couldn't help but hope that maybe there was some hint of truth to it all.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Path to Nothing..." Kat said in a malicious tone. The beydish became consumed into darkness, causing the crowd to roar in cheers and applauses. Her opponent looked around nervously for an exit but there was no hope for him or his beyblade.

Kat's cobalt and black beyblade released her coordinated coloured bit beast and in one swift motion the darkness receded back into her blade and the opponent was defeated.

Kat called her blade to her and it shot back into her palm. She smirked down at her beyblade before putting it in her pocket and saying; "Well done Nephthys,"

Her male opponent knelt down to pick up the remains of his blade. Once he did, he looked up at Kat and glared. Heated tears had come to his eyes. Not because his beyblade had been destroyed but because he had lost the match and his team would be forced to hand over all of their bey parts.

"The winner is Kat of the Sweet and Sour Candies!" a female announcer called, causing the battle stadium to hoot and holler as the girls of the Sweet and Sour Candies team waved to them all.

"Still the champs," Toni smirked as she waved to their adoring public. Tiky, Kierra and Torah walked in circles to keep the crowd cheering, urging them to call their names and to cheer louder. The crowd went wild and Naomi began smiling from ear to ear as she patted Kat on the back.

"Great job," she said and Kat nodded.

"Did what I had to do. Not about to let my team down because I have a massive headache," the hard-shelled female smirked and pulled Naomi into a half hug. Only using her left arm to squeeze her.

"I'm so happy LaLa was able to schedule a battle for us tonight. It gets us closer to obtaining that attack ring for Toni!"

"WOO! U.B.T. HERE WE COME!" Torah jeered as she and Tiky threw their hands up and began hopping around like a couple of frogs. The girls then retreated to the battle backrooms to obtain their winnings from the opposing team.

* * *

><p>The team the girls had gone against gingerly handed over their bag of bey parts to Kierra and LaLa who inspected them before tossing them into Torah's grasp. Torah and Tiky weighed the bag as Naomi took it upon herself to shake hands with the losing team and to tell them, although they lost, they had put up a good fight.<p>

She offered her hand out but the leader of the group, a young male about the age of sixteen swatted her hand away.

"I can't believe I lost to a bunch of girls," he mumbled and without warning, Toni had rushed him and was now holding him by the collar against the wall.

Everyone stayed completely frozen as Toni narrowed her eyes at him and got up into his personal space to say; "Fuck you! So what if you lost to a bunch of girls. We're the fucking S.A.S.C! We're the baddest all girl beyblade team to ever underground beyblade in these streets, so you should show some motherfucking respect, you hear me?" and with that she released him and left the room.

The others then followed but Kat stayed behind to look the losing team up and down. She smirked as she began rubbing her temples again.

"Amateurs..."

* * *

><p>Hilary had spent the night in Max's room. Out of the offers she received she chose Max's room because it was one of the cleaner choices and sleeping in Kai or Ray's room would have been too awkward.<p>

The brunette awoke to the sound of Max trying to quietly search through his closet but he was failing miserably. A downpour of clothes came tumbling out and Hilary couldn't help but smile at the blonde. Max wasn't usually a clean person and she had wondered where all the clothes on his floor went and now she knew.

Max looked over his shoulder to see if Hilary had been woken up and once catching sight of her, the brunette waved at him and said good morning.

"I'm sorry Hilary. I needed to change and I really didn't mean to wake you,"

Hilary sat up and shrugged, "Its fine Max, it's your room,"

The blonde smiled as he collected what he needed; a pair of blue jeans and a mustard yellow graphic t-shirt. He said bye to Hilary then headed for the bathroom to change.

Hilary stretched her back then pulled herself out of bed. It was probably going to be awhile before she was able to use the bathroom so maybe she'd help Max with his messy room problem. Hilary made the bed then went to the closet to tackle what she could.

She couldn't tell clean from dirty with Max's clothes. Unlike Daichi's or Tyson's they all appeared to be clean and none of which smelled like he had been rolling in mud or sweating in it all day so Hilary folded everything and placed them on the bed for him to sort out.

After everything that was on the floor was dealt with, Hilary decided to open up the window to let a fresh breeze in. As she did she noticed that Max's window was right across from one of the neighbours' house windows. It was a fair distance away but Hilary was still able to see a little bit into the room that contained the window.

It was filled with boxes so Hilary assumed that whoever's room it was probably wasn't finished unpacking. Just as she was about to step away Hilary caught sight of someone entering the room. Hilary returned to the window to get a better look of who it was.

It was Tiky and she seemed to be in a rather good mood so Hilary called out Tiky's name until she heard her and waved good morning.

Tiky waved back and said that she had to start breakfast and that she'd see Hilary later. The two girls said their good-byes and Hilary went back to organizing a few things around Max's room.

"Lucky kid... I wonder what he'll do when he finds out his bedroom window is across from Tiky's," Hilary giggled to herself as she thought of Max possibly pulling a perverted move and watching Tiky through her window but she shook the idea from her head. He wasn't Tyson.

Hilary peered out the door to see if the bathroom was unoccupied. It didn't take Max very long to change but the door was closed so another one of the Blade breakers were probably occupying it. She had expected someone else to be in there when she looked so to pass the time until her turn came, Hilary began humming a tune, which soon turned into her singing.

"_Tsukamaeta yume wa itsumo katachi wo kaete shimau kara  
>Kidzukanai uchi ni subete nakushiteru koto mo aru desho<br>Dakedo kitto_

Sugita kinou wo furikaeru tabi kokoro ga itamu kara  
>Wasurekaketeta omoi no kakera<br>Mienai asu ni sagasou yo

I believe in my dream  
>Hakanai kedo kono sekai no katasumi de<br>Samishisa o koraenagara kagayaku hi wo matte iru  
>Itsumademo kienai<p>

_A sign of wish..."_

Her simple singing led to dancing. Hilary began to turn and sway to the beat of the song in her head not even noticing that she was being watched from the doorway.

"_Nanairo no niji ni tokeru jinia no saku ano oka de  
>Taiyou ga waraikakeru mabushii yume shinjiteru<br>Itsumademo mitsumete  
>a sign of wish..." <em>

As Hilary turned she froze as she caught sight of the person in the doorway. He cocked his eyebrow at her but kept that usual uninterested look on his face.

"Kai! H-how long have you been standing there?"

Kai shrugged, "I walked in about the time you started singing into your fist..."

Hilary groaned as she sat down on Max's bed and hid her face in her hands. When she started singing, not once did she think that one of the boys would hear her, let alone Kai. As embarrassment took over, Kai couldn't help but want to laugh a little when he replayed everything he'd just seen over in his head.

Hilary wasn't that bad of a singer and the dancing really was the cherry on top of the embarrassing cake she was now feasting on but he had to admit, not aloud of course, that it was pretty funny to watch and a little cute.

The tall beyblade captain strode into Max's bedroom over to the ashamed brunette and leaned over her, "Don't get so worked up. Its not like you were terrible," maybe that hadn't been the best choice of words since Hilary grunted then dramatically tried to hide herself under one of Max's pillows.

Kai rolled his eyes and pulled the pillow from off of Hilary's head but she had her face buried in her arms.

"I heard someone singing and I followed the sound. Don't be so embarrassed, you weren't that bad,"

A moment of silence fell over the two and when Kai noticed that Hilary wasn't moving, he poked her to see if she was alright. As he poked her in the side, Hilary immediately shot up and covered her mouth to try and stifle the small giggle about to escape her lips.

Kai stepped back as he watched her do this. He raised an eyebrow at her in question as she straightened herself up. An embarrassed smile came to her lips as she explained that where he had poked her was where she was ticklish.

Kai looked at her blanked face as she suddenly began blubbering about how embarrassed she was about him catching her singing and for acting like such a fool when he poked her.

Kai wasn't really even focusing on what she had to say, he was actually just staring at her. There were things he started to notice about her when she talked, depending on her mood.

She was playing with her fingers and biting her lip a lot. She always tended to do that around him but she always seemed to do it most when she was embarrassed or seeking his approval on something.

Kai's gaze roamed over Hilary as she continued to speak. Her right hand was playing with her hair now and she was twirling her chocolate locks around her fingers. The odder thing was that Kai seemed to find it intriguing.

The way her long slender fingers just wrapped her hair around them just seemed to catch his interest. He then followed her hair to her bangs which led to him looking in her big brown eyes. She wasn't looking at him, she was actually staring down at the clothes on the bed but that didn't really matter.

He never really noticed before but Hilary eyes weren't just a regular shade of brown. The way the light was shining through the window made Hilary's big browns look sort of like darkened honey. Kai wasn't exactly sure what colour described what Hilary's eyes looked like but they were... stunning.

Kai swiftly shook his head. Stunning? When did he ever think of anything being stunning? Maybe he needed to think of another word for them... as Kai continued to stare into Hilary's eyes to think of a new word to describe the colour he was seeing, Hilary had finally stopped speaking. She was staring back at him now and she could feel her cheeks getting hot from him just staring at her without a word.

'_Don't do this..._' she pleaded in her head, '_Stop staring at me like that... oh my God he thinks I'm a freak, doesn't he...' _

Kai finally snapped out of his trance as he noticed Hilary had finished speaking. He was still unable to think of a word to describe her eyes but that didn't matter since she was currently staring back at him, looking slightly frightened.

She was probably going to ask why he was staring at her like that but before she could, Kai took it upon himself to ask if she was hungry and wanted breakfast.

"Oh... um... I'll get some after I use the bathroom,"

Kai nodded then made his way out of the room and down the hall, all the way wondering to himself about why Hilary's eyes had caught his attention like that. He admitted it before. He did think Hilary was attractive he just never really accessed why he thought so and apparently he was going to do it now.

* * *

><p>Kenny had arrived at the dojo early. Instead of bugging his mother to take him, the short beyblade engineer had taken the bus and was currently sitting at the kitchen table eating with his teammates while pitching some possible ideas he had thought up when he had gotten home last night.<p>

"You think Torah and Naomi would be willing to let me meet Ming-Ming?" Kenny asked as he passed Max the margarine.

The blonde laughed as he opened the lid and began to butter his toast; "You'd have to ask them,"

"Maybe I will..." Kenny sighed as he started to slip off into a daydream, "To think I could possibly meet Ming-Ming..."

"But you've met Ming-Ming. We don't have beef with BEGA so why don't you just get Mr. D to arrange a date or something?" Tyson asked his miniature friend before shoving as much food as he could into his mouth.

"Why would you wanna date her, anyway?" Daichi spat as he placed down his orange juice, "She's so damn annoying!" for some reason, the redheaded beyblader seemed thoroughly annoyed with the Blue haired pop icon this morning.

Kenny ignored Daichi's comment as he cooed on about his and Ming-Ming's possible future together. The glasses wearing brunette had gotten so caught up in his daydream that he didn't even notice that he now had his elbow placed in the jam that was currently spread over his toasted whole wheat bread.

"Uh, Chief..." Ray called as he looked from Kenny to Kenny's breakfast and back again.

"Yeah..." the brunette replied in a dreamy voice.

"Your elbow's in your breakfast,"

"Huh...? Aw man!"

Everyone else at the table broke out into light laughter as Max passed Kenny some paper towels to clean himself off with.

"Smooth Chief, real smooth," Tyson laughed as he and Daichi shook their heads.

As they all continued to laugh, Kai and Hiro sat over at the breakfast counter near the rear entrance that led out to the backyard. The blue haired coach was staring down into his coffee as he began mapping out what he had been pondering since last night.

Kai also seemed distracted but he was staring out the window. There were quite a few things going through his mind, he just didn't know which one to focus on at the moment. But his concentration broke when Hiro elbowed him to catch his attention.

"I'm going to invite the girls out next weekend. I want to find out a few things so I'm going to be over there or they're going to be over here a lot for the next week, you down?"

Kai shrugged and told Hiro that he could do whatever he wanted. The dojo had been left to him and Tyson and whomever he invited over didn't really concern him, he was just a resident.

A flash of last night came to his mind suddenly, causing Kai to glance over at his blue haired comrade.

Ray had proposed some sort of connection between the neighbours and their injuries but in all honesty Kai couldn't remember much from last night so he had to ask some questions about what they had discussed in the living room since it related to Hiro's current planning.

"Oh yeah, remember how we found out the girls were a beyblade team?" Hiro began, "All of the girls that supposedly beyblade are injured in one way or another so I thought that maybe they were in a really tough beybattle and that's why they got into the taxi,"

Kai nodded as he acknowledged what Hiro had told him. That was probably the most obvious connection and he felt slightly foolish that he didn't figure it out last night. Kai grunted to himself. That's why he never really drank liquor unless he was close to the dojo.

It made his brain patterns slow down and it took him longer to put two and two together, not to mention it changed how he interacted with people.

Kai was never able to see these changes but Ray and Hiro had told him that he always acted a bit out of character when he drank. Garland and Brooklyn had confirmed that and have stated that he was a bit more tolerable when slightly intoxicated thus resulting in Kai's limited drinking rule.

He didn't want to be tolerable. It just meant people would bother him more often then they needed to.

But that didn't matter right now, the matter at hand was finding out what the neighbours were up to. It wasn't vital need-to-know information but they couldn't help but be curious about it all.

"Maybe they're underground bladers," Kai suggested as he poked at his eggs with his fork.

Hiro looked at him from over his coffee mug. As soon as he set the mug down, Hiro nodded, "I thought that. I just don't know what type of underground bladers they are. I've been all over the world and seen both sides of the beyblading world and the dark side can be real ugly. I just want to know how deep in underground blading they are,"

"I'm sure Janielle has nothing to do with your curiosity," Kai remarked, earning him a glare.

Hiro sent Kai a sharp look but he said nothing. Instead the twenty-two year old merely voiced his plan map out to the smart mouthed teenager beside him.

Kai nodded once again as he acknowledged the information.

"I'm sure the rest of the Blade breakers want to know just what our neighbours are up to as well, so I'll let them in on it and we'll work on it all,"

Kai nodded again as he and Hiro both began staring out the window. Hiro contemplated on how he'd approach every aspect of his plan while Kai's mind began racing.

* * *

><p>Daichi was slipping on his favourite pair of sneakers when Tyson came around the corner and asked the redhead where he was heading off to. Daichi pulled his Gaia Dragoon out of his pocket and said that he was going out to do some battling at the bridge.<p>

The bridge had always been a place for some good spirited beybattles and Tyson knew Daichi had been annoyed about not having anyone to beyblade with so the navy haired teen nodded and told Daichi to at least be back before sunset.

Tyson honestly didn't care when Daichi arrived back, as long as he did, but Ray or Hilary might go into parent mode and freak out if the redhead wasn't back before the streetlights came on.

Daichi nodded as he shoved Gaia Dragoon back into his pocket and headed out the door.

Daichi walked down their street and began waiting as soon as he arrived at the bus stop. When the bus arrived Daichi got on and rode it till he arrived where he needed to be. Instead of heading to the bridge like he said he was Daichi was currently making his way to a popular teen hang out everyone called; _The Centre_.

He had actually passed the place many times but it never really interested him to go in but that was his destination.

The fiery redhead pushed the large glass doors open and looked around. Daichi then pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket to check where exactly he needed to go. He followed the signs marked; _The Moss_ until he spotted who he was meeting.

He called out the person's name. He yelled loud enough for the person to hear but not loud enough to draw attention to themselves. The person instantly turned on their heels and as soon as they had caught sight of him they smiled and model walked over to him.

"You came," the person cooed in her high pitched voice. She pulled her sunglasses off of her face and went in to hug Daichi.

He allowed the girl to hug him but he didn't hug back. He felt too uncomfortable and honestly didn't understand why he had come to meet the person in the first place. He, in all honestly, didn't even take much of a liking to her.

"I'm so happy you came, you sure got tall," she commented as she lightly ran her slender hand along Daichi's arms.

He couldn't understand why but he could feel his cheeks pinking. He was blushing.

"Uh, yeah whatever, what do you want Ming-Ming?"

Ming-Ming pouted at Daichi's distant voice but began to smile again as she took hold of his hand and led him over to a secluded lounging area through a pair of frosted glass doors. As she told him to take a seat, she didn't give him much of a choice on where to sit since she had placed him in a circular shaped chair. Since there was enough room for her to sit in it as well the blue haired girl took the spot beside him.

Daichi looked the place over briefly before asking Ming-Ming once again why she had texted him last night to meet her at this place. He also informed her that The Centre wasn't a place he'd usually hang out and Ming-Ming laughed.

"You honestly haven't been here before? This is _the_ hottest place to be, if you're too young to go clubbing! It's all ages night every second last Friday."

Daichi shrugged and sneered, "Whatever,"

Ming-Ming frowned. The expression on his face was giving her the idea that he didn't want to be here and she was determined to change that.

"Look," she began as she place one of her hands on his shoulder, "I called you here for a reason,"

Daichi shrugged as his eyebrows sloped further together, "And..."

Instead of giving him a verbal answer Ming-Ming leaned forward and kissed the hot headed blader without warning.

* * *

><p>The doorbell rang, forcing J-Dymez to answer it. As soon as she pulled the door open she saw that Hilary was standing there with a chipper look on her face.<p>

"Morning," Hilary greeted.

J-Dymez cocked an eyebrow at her but greeted her back and then asked if Hilary wanted her Tupperware back. Hilary paused but as soon as she remembered the cupcake tray and Macaroni pie pan she shook her head and stated that wasn't why she came over.

J-Dymez stepped aside to allow Hilary into the house and as she closed the door she asked the perky brunette why she was here.

"I came to see if Toni was okay. She seemed really mad about last night and I came to apologize for Tyson. He doesn't mean to be a complete jerk... well not all the time,"

J-Dymez nodded and just as she was about to tell Hilary that Toni was in her room, Tiky and Torah came into the foyer from the living room and both squealed as soon as they saw Hilary.

The girls ran over to hug her, pulled away and began searching Hilary as if they were looking for something. Hilary watched as they both did this then asked what exactly Tiky and Torah were doing.

The two girls stepped away with frowns.

"Aww! She didn't bring food!" Torah groaned.

"Hey!" Hilary laughed, "Isn't it just nice to see me?"

"Bitch, we saw you last night, where the hell are the cookies. I totally betted that you'd bring chocolate chip," Tiky said.

"No way! She'd bring sugar cookies!"

"What makes you think she'd bring sugar cookies?"

"Because, since she came over and doesn't have anything and I just suggested that she'd bring sugar cookies, the next time she comes over, she's gonna bring 'em because if she does I'll win the bet and I'll give her ten percent,"

"Ten percent? If I listen to your suggestion why don't I get a bigger cut?" Hilary questioned, still smiling.

"Bigger cut?" Torah stared at Hilary as if she were a creature from some sort of horror film, "It's like you don't know me at all!"

J-Dymez rolled her eyes but she had a small smile on her face. The elder of the house then notified the juniors that Hilary had come over to talk to Toni and she told Torah and Tiky to bring her to Toni's room. The dynamic duo saluted their team coach and urged Hilary to follow them up the steps that would lead her to Toni's room.

* * *

><p>Kierra, Kat and Toni were looking a few things over when Torah and Tiky barged through the door with Hilary. Quickly yet discreetly, Toni slipped what the three of them had been working on behind her, then into Kat's grasp as they all said hello to Hilary. Kat then tucked away what she had in her hand behind her.<p>

"Hey," Hilary greeted back as she walked up to Toni, "I just came to apologize for Tyson. He really doesn't mean to be such a jerk,"

Toni stared up at Hilary for a moment before her shoulders came up in a shrug then lazily returned to their place. "It's fine... I wanted to talk to him actually, but since he sent you over instead-"

"No, no! He doesn't know I'm over here so don't hold it against him. He's just stubborn,"

"I know," the short tan brown skinned girl remarked as she folded her lean arms, "Still don't see why he didn't come over to say it himself,"

"Give him time, I'm sure he'll do it."

Toni shrugged once again.

"Wanna sit?" Kierra asked as she made room for the brunette to take a seat.

"I'm really sorry how things turned out last night. I was hoping we could've stayed longer. The boys really seem to like you all," Hilary said as she took a seat between Kierra and Toni.

"And we really like the boys," Torah murmured, causing Tiky to laugh.

"Other than apologizing for the idiot, what else are you here for?" Kat asked.

"Oh, well I wanted to know if any of you wanted to come over to our house this week. We want to makeup for all the awkward behaviour between our households so we're inviting you over to hang out," Hilary had wanted a few of the girls to sleepover at the dojo last night but since they had things to do she left it at that but when Hiro came to her this morning to ask the neighbours if they wanted to come over, the brunette eagerly agreed.

"SWEET!" Torah and Tiky jeered in unison as they high fived one another. "We're there!"

"But we have ba-" Kierra was about to tell Hilary that they had beyblade battles to do all this week but Kat slapped the scatterbrained girl in the arm to shut her up.

Kierra whined and asked why Kat had hit her but the black haired blader merely ignored her and turned to Hilary saying that they would all see if they could make it some time tomorrow if it were possible.

Hilary nodded with glee and said that she'd notify the boys. Suddenly girl talk was set into motion as Tiky and Torah jumped onto the bed and began asking Hilary questions about the Blade breakers.

Did they want them to bring anything specific over? Did they play video games? Did they like scary movies? Was there a high chance, if any, that they'd be able to see at least one of them shirtless?

Hilary laughed as she tried to answer all of their questions while Toni and Kat shot each other brief glances. If it hadn't been for Kat's quick thinking, Kierra would've shared classified information.

* * *

><p>Hilary arrived back at the dojo about an hour and a half after she had left to head over to the neighbours' house. As she made her way to the meditation station on the far side of the dojo grounds she spotted Kai staring up at the sky.<p>

Hilary silently made her way over to him and he hadn't even noticed her presence until she leaned over him and asked what he was doing.

The slate haired teen looked up at the brunette and instantly stated that he wasn't doing anything. He was merely just staring up at the sky. Hilary asked him if he wanted anything from the kitchen but he refused.

Hilary nodded and said that if he needed anything that she'd be inside. Hilary then walked around Kai and started heading for the backyard. Kai suddenly sat up and began watching her as she trotted away.

He was starting to notice a lot more about Hilary. First it had been the way she played with her hands when she was either nervous or embarrassed and now he was watching her walk. Her hips swayed a lot when she walked giving her that slinky sexy strut.

Kai's eyebrows rose briefly before returning to his original position to stare up at the sky from the wooden bench.

Moments later, another person had come around the corner but this time it was Ray. The cat-like Chinese boy smiled as he caught sight of his friend and walked over to him.

"Hey,"

Kai rolled his eyes, "Is there no place I can have peace?"

Ray continued to smile as he looked down at his friend. The muscular ebony haired boy remained standing as Kai sat up once again and turned to ask what he wanted.

Ray shrugged, "Nothing, I was just wondering something..."

Kai stared at him with an expression that read; _and..._

"And I was curious as to what you thought of Hilary,"

Kai paused as he and his best friend stared at one another. Kai had been wondering the same thing... what did he think of Hilary?

For some strange reason she had been crossing his mind all day and he couldn't really figure out why. Getting back to Ray's question, since Kai didn't really know the answer, the captain of the Blade breakers merely shrugged.

"What's to think? She's a member of the team."

Ray nodded as he folded his arms then lazily leaned against the dojo wall. "Yeah. She's really grown with the team don't you think? She's changed a little bit."

Kai cocked an eyebrow, "I guess," what exactly was Ray playing at. He and the Chinese boy beside him never really held conversations like this. Sure they had talked about girls, mostly the ones that they've met on other beyblade teams but they never really talked about Hilary especially not how they were talking about her now.

"She's rather pretty don't you think?"

Kai looked up at Ray as if he had said something foreign. He had been pondering on Hilary's looks since he saw her in Max's room and now Ray was coming to him, asking if he thought she was pretty. What was going on?

"I guess," he said. He always thought she was attractive but Ray was really getting him to think about why he thought she was pretty. He just didn't want to talk about it.

"Hmm. I think so. She's very pretty, smart too,"

"Ray what's your point?"

The cat-like teen smirked as he shrugged, "I don't know, I'm just asking what you think of her,"

Kai took a moment to really think about that. At this point, he really wasn't sure exactly what he thought of Hilary but he knew Ray knew something and he wanted to know what it was. The muscled nineteen year old looked at his friend and blatantly asked where he was going with all of this and once again, he got a shrug.

Annoyed with Ray's attitude, Kai got to his feet to relocate to his room. Although he really liked being outside, it was evident that he wouldn't have any peace or time to himself if he remained outdoors. Kai turned away from Ray without another word and made his way back into the dojo, leaving Ray by himself.

The cat like teen began heading for the sidewalk as he quietly thought to himself. What he was planning was going to be a little harder than he anticipated but he was sure he could pull it off. He'd devise a clever plan as he took his afternoon walk.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Daichi was desperate to find a place to look since he currently didn't want to look at Ming-Ming. The couple had relocated once again and were sitting in a small booth at the far corner of The Moss eatery. As soon as he spotted the waitress, Daichi sighed with relief. At least he could stare into his drink now...

The waitress handed Daichi the glass of soda he had asked for and Ming-Ming the virgin Pina Colada she had ordered. The waitress then notified that their food would be coming shortly and walked off to serve someone else.

Daichi instantly began slurping at his drink while Ming-Ming stirred hers with a straw.

The blue haired girl watched as Daichi kept his eyes focused on the bubbly orange liquid in his glass and she frowned. Since she had kissed him, he had started acting awkward and in turn, was making her slightly uncomfortable.

She continued to stare at him for a few moments as she gave herself an internal pep talk.

'_You're Ming-Ming Love. There is no way he can hate you! You're one of the top beybladers in the world not to mention a pop star icon! He's just being shy... just make him feel comfortable'_ she thought and instantly a smile came to her face.

She didn't know exactly how long it had been but Ming-Ming had really taken a liking to Daichi. At first she denied her feelings, thinking that she couldn't possibly have any romantic interest in someone so loud, obnoxious, pigheaded and inconsiderate.

She tried to distract herself with work but as soon as she had any free time, Ming-Ming's thoughts drifted to Daichi. She tried her hardest to think about other things but as soon as she let her thoughts run their course she began to realize the good attributes of Daichi's personality.

He may have been loud and obnoxious but Daichi was a passionate person. He cared for his beyblade like a family member and he was a great team player, even though he and Tyson fought quite often. After awhile, Ming-Ming had grown to really like Daichi and just recently did she decided to pursue him.

When she had sent him a text message last night it had initiated her game plan.

"What's the matter? You look tense," Ming-Ming said. She hadn't intended to use her 'Queen' voice but it just slipped out, causing Daichi to finally look up at her.

His emerald eyes quickly darted back to look into his orange soda, "Nothing. I'm fine," he told her. His tone of voice seemed cold and annoyed but the hint of pink on his face made Ming-Ming smirk a little bit.

"So, what have you been up to? You still beyblade don't you?"

"Yeah..." he refused to look up at her so he stirred the ice in his drink around with his straw, trying to focus on the clinking of the ice against the glass and nothing else.

Ming-Ming leaned back into the cushions of the booth seat. He was ignoring her and it was irritating.

Daichi wasn't like any other boys she had pursued. They were head over heels as soon as she batted her honey coloured eyes but Daichi was different, Daichi was harder to obtain but she would obtain him. She promised herself that.

"There's a bey stadium in this place. You want to pop in and have a friendly game?"

Originally, Daichi had thought that was what she had texted him for and he had been slightly eager to battle Ming-Ming and her Venus blade once again but at the moment, he wasn't feeling up to it.

"Maybe later..." he murmured. He didn't mean to do it but he glanced up at her and he felt his lips tingle a bit. Daichi pursed his lips together quickly as he focused his attention down at the table. When Ming-Ming had kissed him earlier he honestly didn't know what to do.

Everything had happened so fast that it just left him stunned. Daichi could admit he wasn't the smartest kid around but he usually got by on instinct and he honestly didn't know where any of his keen instinct went because when Ming-Ming pulled away from him, he just stared at her with his mouth slightly agape.

Embarrassed by his actions, Daichi grunted and glared at the table as if it had done something to provoke him. Beyblading was his field of expertise not girls and Daichi finally figured out why he usually chose to avoid most contact with females. It brought problems he didn't want or needed and he knew this from watching the elder members of his team. Girls were trouble and he didn't need any trouble.

Daichi hadn't even noticed when Ming-Ming had decided to walk up to sit next to him, but when he did, he nearly spilt his soda. She casually slid in beside him and smiled warmly as she got really close. Daichi tried to keep as much distance between them as possible but apparently Ming-Ming had other ideas.

Unable to move back any further, Daichi grunted. What the hell was all this about? Where did all of this suddenly come from and why the hell did it have to be Ming-Ming? Sure he didn't have any specific preference but anyone other than Ming-Ming would've been better.

Mathilda, the pink haired girl on the Barthez Battalion team would've have been more than a better choice. Daichi could admit he did think she was really cute but Ming-Ming? What did he really do to deserve being stuck with someone he couldn't tolerate for more than a couple of minutes?

"Is there something wrong?" Ming-Ming asked him, forcing Daichi to look at her. Her baby face seemed to hold genuine concern and the way she was pouting her lips at him was making Daichi even more uncomfortable and slightly guilty.

She was trying very hard to be friendly and he was being reluctant. Usually he wouldn't give a damn but the way she was looking at him was really affecting his judgment.

Ming-Ming placed her hand on his leg, she had done it on purpose but Daichi didn't know that. He thought she had done it by accident but it was making his heart beat abnormally fast.

Ming-Ming could see a hint of emotion in his eyes. She wasn't sure which but she knew it had been elicited out of him when she placed her hand on his thigh. So that was the ticket. Physical contact... Daichi reacted more to physical contact than conversation.

Ming-Ming fought back a smirk as she watched his eyebrows furrow together as she placed her other hand on his shoulder, "Are you sure you're okay? You seem very uncomfortable," she moved in rather close and she could actually hear Daichi gulp down the lump in his throat.

Daichi wanted desperately to say that yeah. He was uncomfortable and that he wanted her to back the hell off but he couldn't. The way she was looking at him was making him antsy and unable to speak and he was getting frustrated because he couldn't understand why. He knew Ming-Ming was interested in him, that's why she had kissed him but he wasn't interested in her... or at least he didn't think so because at that moment he was really starting to question his original feelings.

He never had a girl crush on him before and it was sort of an ego boost that a girl that just happened to be one of the top beybladers in the world, as well as a pop star, was interested in him.

"I'm fine..." he managed to say and finally found the strength to put some distance between them. He lightly forced her back and was finally able to sit comfortably.

"Are you sure?" Ming-Ming cooed as she lightly brushed her tiny fingers through his messy red hair, "We can go somewhere else if you'd like..." the hand she had on his thigh was now tracing a pattern onto his jeans and Daichi had to swallow another lump in his throat.

He was feeling slightly light headed but was saved when the waitress finally arrived with the food.

It was a different waitress though. She was younger than the last and a lot shorter too. She balanced the two food orders on a tray in her hand and with surprising ease she slipped the plates off of the tray and onto the table.

"Here's your order, sorry it..." her voice trailed off as she looked at Daichi and Ming-Ming. He was sure that she was staring at them because of the awkward way they were sitting but when her face lit up like a florescent light and she began to squeal, that reason went out the window.

"Y-Y-You're Ming-Ming Love!" the girl exclaimed as she squealed again.

Ming-Ming finally eased off of Daichi as she smiled at the girl. In her head she was rolling her eyes, she loved her fans dearly but at this time she really just wanted the waitress to go away.

"Yup that's me, but don't tell anyone I'm here okay?" Ming-Ming said in her cutest voice and winked at the girl. She squealed again and nodded, promising not to say a word.

The waitress looked over at Daichi and gave him a curious face. It took a moment before she gasped and said, "I remember you! You're that Daichi guy from the beyblade team... um... the Blade breakers!"

Daichi cocked an eyebrow at her and frowned, why hadn't she recognized him as fast as Ming-Ming? He snorted; she was probably just a Ming-Ming crazed fan, not a beyblade fan. She was probably one of the girls that followed everything Ming-Ming did.

It took a few moments and a signed napkin but Ming-Ming managed to shoo the over anxious waitress away. The blue haired girl then returned to the matter at hand.

"You don't need to pay for any of this. I'll pick up the tab. I was the one that asked you out after all," she smiled and saw the hint of pleasure in Daichi's expression. It was true what they said. You could get to a man's heart through his stomach and Daichi was the perfect example of that.

* * *

><p>When Daichi arrived back at the dojo, it was eerily silent but that really didn't matter. He had gone out today thinking that he'd probably have the worst day of his life but he came back to the dojo thinking otherwise. Although he still had feelings of slight animosity towards Ming-Ming he could officially say that he liked her a lot more now then he did a couple of years ago.<p>

Instead of heading to the living room like he usually did, Daichi made a beeline to his and Tyson's room. He went straight to his bed and instantly went digging through his pockets. He pulled out his Gaia Dragoon but also a few memorabilia of the afternoon he had spent with Ming-Ming.

By the end of it all, they didn't beybattle but Daichi was particularly satisfied with how his day went. Free food, fun games... a little less than annoying company. Overall, a surprisingly good day.

He looked down at the arcade tickets he had obtained that afternoon and he was only thirty away from winning the prize that he wanted but since both he and Ming-Ming had curfews to abide by he had to wait until he could obtain more tickets, thus resulting in Ming-Ming planning another date. Much to his own surprise, Daichi agreed and said that he'd see her next Wednesday.

It was Sunday so that meant he'd be seeing her in ten days and he was actually looking forward to it.

Just then, Tyson walked in, causing Daichi to hide everything except Gaia Dragoon.

"How'd the battles go?" Tyson asked as she searched through his stuff for God only knew what. It was amazing how he and Daichi were able to find anything in their room, it was rather filthy.

"Pretty good," Daichi replied with a wide grin.

* * *

><p>Over the week, the Blade breakers and their neighbours, the Sweet and Sour Candies had become rather close. Hiro had been over to the girl's house nearly everyday that week and tonight, Friday night, the girls would be over at their house.<p>

Although the girls constantly had to be out and about just after sunset, tonight they were all free and had agreed to go clubbing.

J-Dymez, Naomi and Kat were actually the only ones of age to go clubbing with Hiro but Naomi had said that she wasn't going to go. She wasn't much of a party animal and she felt like she'd just slow them all down. Hiro didn't necessarily mind since it was actually Janielle he as focused on so the rest of his and her team were free to do as they wished, as long as he was able to be alone with her.

Kat grunted as Kierra and Tiky fiddled with and brushed her hair.

"What the hell!" Kat spat as she pulled free from the two girls grasp.

"Hey! You're going clubbing!" Tiky announced as she put her hands on her hips, "I want you to look pretty and bring home a rich man!"

Kat rolled her eyes as Kierra and Tiky continued on with their almost abusive primping. "I don't need a rich man..." she mumbled.

"We do," Kierra laughed as she compared coloured barrettes to Kat's skin tone. Kat sneered and swatted Kierra's hands away. There was no way in hell that they were going to make her wear barrettes. As a matter of fact, she wasn't even sure as to why she was going clubbing in the first place.

"J says she doesn't want to be stuck with a group of guys all night and Naomi won't come so she said you're the only one she's got until I turn nineteen," Toni remarked as she walked up to her three friends.

When she was close enough, Toni stopped dead in her tracks, paused and began to break out into hysterical laughter. Kat's eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance. Kat then picked up the nearest thing she could and threw it at Toni, but the short girl dodged her attack.

"Shut up, Short shit!" Kat barked as she began shaking her fist at her five foot three teammate.

Toni held her stomach as she bent over with glee and continued to guffaw. "Y-You're wearing a dress!" Toni laughed and instantly fell to her knees.

Kat got to her feet and managed to finally get away from Tiky and Kierra. She walked up to the full length mirror leaning against the room wall and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. The dress was short and only reached the middle of her thigh. It was black and pinstriped and was strapless.

Kat could admit it, it was a nice dress but it wasn't her style. She groaned as she kicked Kierra, Tiky and Toni out of the room in order for her to change into something she actually wanted to wear. Kierra and Tiky whined and said that Kat looked pretty, while Toni continued to laugh as she slammed the door shut behind them.

Just then J-Dymez came up to the three girls. She was wearing a dress and it was the same length as Kat's. It reached to the middle of her thigh and instead of black, it was deep red. It was a halter dress with a low cut V-neck with a thin silver chained belt that rested on her hips. It was almost skin-tight but suited J-Dymez very nicely.

"Is Kat ready?"

Toni snorted as Kierra and Tiky folded their arms angrily over their chests.

"She's changing," Kierra notified, "She had such a pretty dress on and she's going to change out of it. I swear she has no sense of fashion!"

"Yeah and she wouldn't let us do her hair either! Bitch ain't got no class!" Tiky added in, causing Kat to bang on the door to tell the two eighteen year olds to shut the hell up.

J-Dymez cocked an eyebrow as she forced a giggle back down her throat, "A dress? You got a dress on her?"

Kierra and Tiky nodded.

"And y'all are still alive?" she chuckled as she pushed past the two and knocked on the door, "You got five minutes Kat and then were gonna head next door,"

Kat grunted, then a loud thud was heard from behind the door. Causing Toni to laugh harder, she knew Kat had probably fallen while trying to remove herself from the dress Kierra and Tiky had put on her. Kat groaned angrily then told J-Dymez to come in and help her.

J-Dymez agreed and as she turned the knob she looked at the girls and told them to get ready. Kierra and Tiky nodded and walked off as Janielle went into the room to help Kat choose an outfit for tonight.

Tiky, Kierra and Toni headed up the steps to see what the other girls were up too.

Torah was sitting down in her sister's room watching Naomi frantically pondered on what to wear. The girls had decided that they'd go over to the Blade breakers dojo in their pyjamas since it was already night fall and they were going to be there all night but apparently Naomi was having some difficulties on choosing just the right pair of PJs.

"I could wear my flannel pyjamas but its summer and it'd be too hot, but I don't want to wear my boxer short pyjamas because I don't want to look like a slut," Naomi said as she walked around her room.

Torah moaned as if she were in agony. She rolled her eyes and turned to her sister; "Just pick something! It's not gonna matter what you wear since cat boy will probably take it off," she smirked as she said the last part and Naomi instantly turned to her.

Naomi blushed as she sent her sister a serious look, "T-That's not funny!"

"Nope, it's kinky-" before Torah could proceed on with her inappropriate comments. Naomi put her hands to her ears and started humming to herself in order to drown out the sounds of her sister's voice.

Tiky, Kierra and Toni sat down on Naomi's bed and watched as she frantically debated on what to wear again. Feeling obligated to help, Tiky chimed in and suggested on what she thought Naomi should wear but like Torah, she didn't contribute the sort of input Naomi was hoping for.

"Wear that silky tank top you have with the matching panties... and that's it,"

Naomi frowned as she glanced over at her peanut gallery, "Tiky! I can't wear that!"

"Why not, Ray'll appreciate it!"

"THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYIN'!" Torah remarked. Both she and Tiky laughed then gave each other a high fives, resulting in Naomi grunting with slight frustration.

"Stop that! We're just friends..."

"Yeah, Friends that wanna-"

"Don't you start too, Toni!"

The girls on the bed all began laughed as Naomi sat down on the floor and began to sulk. Between their giggles and guffaws they all assured the panicky purple eyed teen that she'd look amazing regardless of what she wore.

Naomi had always had a problem with body image and it continued to plague her to this day but the girls were always happy to assure her that, no matter what, she beautiful inside and out.

Although Naomi usually just sulked about it, tonight she actually took the girls comments to heart and smiled. She finally picked out something to wear and the other girls sighed with relief. At least today's pep talk was a lot shorter than usual.

Naomi decided to wear the short silky, purple tank top like Tiky had suggested but with a pair of long, yellow, green, blue, pink and white striped flannel pyjama pants. Finally pleased with what she was wearing, Naomi looked around at her teammate, feeling slightly embarrassed that she had taken so long in picking out what she was going to sleep in.

Torah was wearing an oversized white t-shirt and a pair of flannel pyjama pants as well but hers were light green with white lines that crossed over one another to give the pyjamas a green tiled pattern.

Toni wore a long bright red t-shirt and a pair of black and white striped girl boxers.

Kierra had on a silky baby pink night gown and Tiky had on a pale yellow tank top and a pair of black, pink, white and grey plaid girl boxers. All simple but adorable...

The girls all made their way down to the foyer to wait for Kat and J-Dymez so that they could head over to the Blade breakers dojo. The girls quickly went to the kitchen for a few snacks to bring next door but returned to the front door just in time.

It only took a moment before Kat and J-Dymez immerged from the room they were in.

Kat decided upon wearing a pair of high-waist dark blue skinny jeans and an elegant looking, black halter top that tied around her neck.

Torah jokingly whistled, "Sex-ay ladies," and she and Tiky laughed.

"Someone's gonna turn heads tonight," Tiky said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. J-Dymez and Kat rolled their eyes as they opened the front door and piled the girls out to head next door.

* * *

><p>Hiro was buttoning his shirt when he answered the door. He smiled and then stepped aside to allow the girls inside of the dojo. They all looked from one wall to another, scanning what they could see. They thought the place was surprisingly clean for a household full of males.<p>

"Hilary and the guys are in the living room so make yourselves comfortable," Hiro announced to the girls in their pyjamas. He pointed the way to the living room and the girls sluggishly made their way in. J-Dymez, Kat and Hiro jumped at the sound of Hilary's squealing and the boys' unexpectedly loud greetings.

Noisy rushing and bustling movements were heard next and J-Dymez smiled to herself. They were all probably seating themselves and moving around in the next room and she couldn't help but feel oddly motherly.

It felt like when you first drop your kids off at school and you pray to the heavens that they make friends and as soon as they get out of the car they're welcomed with open arms.

Although J-Dymez had no children she assumed that the feelings were almost the same. In a way she was like the girls' mother but more like a den mother or a big sister.

J-Dymez steely maroon eyes then fixated on Hiro. Over the past week they had grown very close. She'd never say it aloud until the time was right but she took a great liking to Hiro, in a romantic way. J-Dymez wasn't sure if he felt the same but her goal was to figure that out tonight at the club.

She looked Hiro once over again to fully appreciate the outfit he was wearing. A long sleeved, pastel moss green dress shirt and a pair of black boot cut jeans with accents of grey around the pockets.

When he finally finished buttoning his shirt, Hiro then sent Kat and J-Dymez a warm smile.

"You two look lovely this evening,"

J-Dymez smiled and told him thank you while Kat merely rolled her eyes. She really didn't feel like going clubbing but since she had no choice she dealt with the short end of the stick she was given.

"When will our ride be arriving?" J-Dymez asked in a sultry sort of tone.

As soon as she had asked, the doorbell went off.

"I guess now," Hiro shrugged then opened the door. On the porch stood both Garland and Brooklyn, all smiles and ready to go. Hiro quickly introduced everyone as he slid on a pair of grey and black Nike high tops.

"Hey," Brooklyn said with a smile. He was dressed in a loose fitting, white t-shirt with a black and midnight blue striped; zip up hoodie and a grey insert blazer on top. He wore dark blue boot cut jeans and a pear of graphic Vans slip ons.

Garland was wearing a simple t-shirt and black leather jacket over it. He had on a pair of Prussian blue jeans that had a design that looked as if he had just come from a paintballing. The paint splatters were yellow, green, dark blue and rose pink. The colours etched across his pants matched the colours of his Chuck Taylor high tops perfectly.

Garland's baby blue eyes looked Kat and J-Dymez once over before he said hello as well and shook each of their hands. Both Kat and J-Dymez thought Garland and Brooklyn were good-looking, but they decided against telling them so. Even though they had just met the two the duo had taken a certain disliking to them.

They were mainstream beybladers and they'd always taken a disliking to mainstream beybladers, but little did they know that their outlook on the two males would change as the night progressed on.

"We heading out now?" Brooklyn asked as he turned to Hiro.

Hiro nodded then turned to J-Dymez and Kat, asking if they needed anything before they left the house. After the girls shook their heads, saying they didn't need anything, Hiro called the Blade breakers out to say good bye and to lay down the ground rules.

"I don't want to come back to this house and see someone with a black eye," Hiro began, glancing over at his brother as he said that.

Tyson rolled his eyes but refrained from speaking.

"If you make a mess, clean it, if you want to listen to music that's fine as long as the neighbours don't complain and for the love of God, be on your best behaviour,"

Garland and Brooklyn laughed as Hiro finished laying down the laws of the dojo.

"You never give them any rules when we usually go out, what's up with today?" Brooklyn questioned with a raised eyebrow but just as he did, his question was answered. The girls peeped out of the living room and all politely waved hello as soon as Garland and Brooklyn glanced over at them.

Garland cocked an eyebrow briefly before glancing at Hiro and smirking, "So that's why..."

Hiro nodded before saying goodbye to everyone in the dojo and heading out. Kat and J-Dymez followed behind but before they pulled the doors close, J-Dymez gave the girls a stern look.

She told them that if any of them acted up or did anything to embarrass her, every single one of them was getting their ass kicked when she arrived back.

"AWW!" Torah and Tiky whined as the twenty-one year old pulled the door shut leaving the six boys and six girls alone in the dojo.

* * *

><p>As the group of five piled into Brooklyn's car, Hiro stole a glance of the dojo before climbing into the back seat with J-Dymez and Kat. As deceitful as he was planning to be that night, Hiro couldn't help but feel slightly proud of himself as well as the rest of the Blade breakers.<p>

Over the past week He, the Blade breakers and the neighbours had all bonded and were all becoming great friends but the little secret he knew they were hiding was becoming more and more intriguing.

By the end of the night, Hiro thought as he pulled the door close, he hoped he'd get all the information he'd want if everything went according to plan. The only thing he felt uneasy about was his little brother. Although he and Toni kept on having this on again off again sort of friendship, Hiro couldn't help but feel as if Tyson would make a mess of everything they were building to and botch his whole plan but Hiro sighed.

He'd have to have faith in his little brother; if not... hopefully Kai or Ray would clean up Tyson's mess before everything could be blown out of proportion.

Brooklyn gunned the engine to life and instantly began to speed off to the main road. Tonight surely was going to be one hell of a night.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As soon as Hiro and the others had left for the club, the Sweet and Sour Candies, as well as the Blade breakers filed back into the living room. At first, none of them knew what to do but after a few awkward moments, their co-ed sleepover was set into motion.

Like at the barbeque, the boys and the girls had broken off into little groups and Max and Torah were currently holding most of the room's attention with their loud video game playing.

The blonde boy and brunette girl sat side by side as they swayed with their virtual selves. No one else in the room was sure as to what game the two of them were playing but it involved racing, hiding, collecting items and attacking one other for points, thus capturing their interest as to who would win the game.

At first they all thought Max was going to win but Torah caught up in points so the rest weren't sure who the match would go to so they just watched in silence as the two gamers tossed light hearted trash talk each other's way.

"I'm takin' your cookies Max!" Torah laughed as she slammed her thumb repeatedly onto one of the buttons.

Thanks to the other girls, the Blade breakers had come to learn that; _taking your cookies_ meant they were beating you.

Max chuckled in response as he moved his virtual character out of harms way. He glanced at Torah and sent her a slightly smug smile, "No way, I'm totally going to eat your food,"

The Blade breakers also learned that _eating your food_ either meant I'll destroy or beat you, depending on its context.

Torah glanced back at the blonde briefly before turning back to the screen, "Shut up and put your money where your mouth is," she commented before she began pressing a series of buttons. Torah's half of the screen began to shine a bright yellow and suddenly, the fighter vehicle she had been using changed, causing Max's mouth to fall open slightly.

The blonde's big blue eyes turn to look at the girl beside him, "I thought you said you never played this game!"

Torah smirked and shrugged. She had stated that she never played the game before but it had all been part of her strategy.

"Never underestimate your opponent, no matter what they say," Torah remarked as her character went hurdling for Max's.

Although Torah's actions were unexpected, Max didn't seem as caught off guard as he had let on. Max waited until Torah's character was in reach and just as she was about to attack, Max began pressing a series of button combinations with exquisite speed.

The game slowed the action down for everyone to see as Max's virtual character, jumped over Torah's, held her by the collar and knocked her off of her fighter vehicle. Max's character then flew up into the sky and then came shooting back to the ground like a meteor, landing on Torah's character and ending their match.

As the television screen announced Max to be the winner, Torah's jaw dropped at the same time the controller she held fell out of her hand from shock. She turned to Max, with that stunned look still on her face as Tyson and Kenny cheered and slapped Max on the back for a job well done.

Kierra, Tiky and Toni had been watching the virtual battle as well, but even though they had no idea as to what was going on, they knew Torah had lost and they sulked for their teammates defeat.

Max thanked Tyson and Kenny for the congratulations then turned to Torah. He smiled brightly and held out his hand for her to shake.

"Good game,"

Torah was quite upset about her defeat but she smiled back at the blonde and shook his hand, "Yeah, wicked move,"

"Told you I'd eat your food,"

Torah and Max laughed as she playfully pushed the blonde away from her and told him to keep his mouth shut. Max lightly pushed Torah back, which ended up resulting in an infantile war. Everyone around them had lost interest and returned to focus on other things while Tiky watched Max and Torah from the corner of her eye.

The peachy skinned brunette smirked as she continued to gander at the couple but she said nothing as they both got up to go to the kitchen in order for Torah to prepare a snack. It had been agreed, at the beginning of their game, that the loser would have to prepare the winner a snack, any way they liked and they had to do it without complaint.

As the sixteen and seventeen year olds giggled their way to the kitchen, Tiky's curious gaze began to scan the room some more. She was never really observant towards anything other than beyblading but she really enjoyed the way her team reacted to the Blade breakers.

The Sweet and Sour Candies, usually didn't get along with many people but the fact that they were all becoming so close to the Blade breakers was making Tiky happier than she thought it would... but then again, why wouldn't she be happy with having seven, really cute guys as friends?

Tiky currently sat with Hilary, Tyson, Kai, Kenny and Daichi over by the three seater couch while Ray and Naomi manned the loveseat. The cat-like teen and the shy girl were talking but much to her own surprise, Tiky couldn't hear them over the sound of Tyson and Hilary's voice.

Hilary and Tyson were currently arguing over what they were to do next while, Kenny, Daichi and Kai merely watched the two of them go at it as they all rolled their eyes. Tiky took into consideration that Tyson and Hilary's loudness was probably constant thing but it was quite an inconvenience at this particular moment.

The curious beyblade strategist watched as Ray leaned in and whispered something to Naomi. The dark skinned girl paused as her cheeks began to flush a little hint of pink. Ray then put his arm around Naomi, causing her to lean against him. Tiky smiled. She knew Ray and Naomi had a little something going on, she just couldn't understand why the two pretended to be just friends. It was obvious to her that they were interested in each other, one way or another.

The sound of popcorn popping down the hall was what captured Tiky's attention and the smell of its buttery goodness was drawing her in.

Tiky then turned back to her group and noticed that Tyson and Hilary were still arguing.

To stop their quarrelling, Tiky suggested that maybe if they all got some snacks that ideas on what to do next would come to them. Tyson instantly agreed, causing Hilary to remark that he was pig and that he only agreed to Tiky suggest because it meant he could feed that ever hungry face of his. As Tyson and Hilary stood to make their way to the kitchen with Tiky, Daichi and Kenny, another argument erupted. Tyson and Hilary were throwing mean spirited insult each others way but Hilary turned her back on the blue haired boy to ask Kai if he wanted anything from the kitchen.

As soon as the others had gotten up, Kai has spread himself over the couch. He looked up at Hilary and paused to think of what he wanted. Nothing came to mind but he knew he wanted something to snack on so instead of making a specific order, the slate haired male merely shrugged and told the brunette to bring him anything and as a little extra compliment, he stated that Hilary knew what he liked and would make the proper choice.

Hilary's eyes widened but only slightly as her cheeks began to pink over. She nodded and told the Blade breakers captain that she'd bring him something special and was off. Tyson followed behind the brunette, mocking her and Kai's conversation, causing him to go flying into the wall as Hilary punched him in the arm.

"Sheesh, are you all always like this?" Toni remarked as she changed her position on the floor and began to lie on her stomach.

Kai lanced at her, finally noticing that she was addressing the question towards him and he Hn'ed in response, "Every single day..."

* * *

><p>Kat thanked the bar tender as he handed her the screwdriver cocktail she ordered and without hesitation, Kat began to drink from her tall glass. The music was blaring and extremely loud in the club. Coloured strobe lights were flashing all over the place and the somewhat sour blader thought that if there was an epileptic in the house, the party would be shut down for a brief period of time due to an educed seizure.<p>

As Kat drank away at her fruity beverage, she began to look around. It had always been a habit of her to know her surroundings, regardless of being and/or drunk. Kat wanted to make sure she knew just exactly who was around her, where the exits were and where security was just in case.

As she mapped out the clubs layout, both Garland and Brooklyn came walking up beside her. Kat had seen them coming out of the corner of her eye but she pretended not to notice them until Brooklyn tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned her stony eyes to the flame hair coloured boy and cocked an eyebrow to ask him what he wanted. It was slightly hard to hear him over the bumping techno music that was now playing but Kat was able to catch his question; "Why aren't you dancing?"

Kat chuckled into her drink, "I don't dance,"

Brooklyn's beautiful emerald eyes widened as she said this. He began staring at her as if she were insane, "You don't dance? How can you come to a club and not dance?"

Kat held up her drink for him to send the message that she came for the booze. Brooklyn frowned briefly before smiling at the Kat.

"You don't know what you're missing!" Brooklyn yelled as he suddenly ran off into the crowd to immerge himself onto the dance floor.

Kat rolled her eyes then continued to sip at her drink as she and Garland leaned against the bar. She glanced at the silver haired male from the corner of her eye, expecting him to ask her the same question that Brooklyn did but he never asked.

Kat didn't mind that he didn't ask, she just found it odd that he didn't but then again he was in the same position as her. Posted up at the bar staring aimlessly into the moving crowd while drinking from his alcoholic beverage. Maybe he wasn't a dancer like she was.

As Kat returned to what she had been doing before Brooklyn came up and interrupted her, Garland stole a glance of the rough edged girl beside him. His light blue eyes scanned her quickly before he turned his head back to face forward.

He found Kat to be an attractive girl but her evident hostility towards him and Brooklyn made it hard to get to know her. Garland could feel Kat's want to leave the club and it was making him slightly unnerved.

If she didn't want to be here, why had she come in the first place? Garland wanted to ask her, not as bluntly as he did in his head but instead of that question coming from his lips, he cocked an eyebrow and questioned her choice of alcohol.

"A screwdriver?"

Kat turned to look at Garland. Her eyebrows sloped together as she silently asked him what his problem towards her choice. The BEGA league beyblader shrugged at her, even though she hadn't verbally came out and asked him what she was thinking.

"I thought you'd be into something not so... girly. I half expected you to order just plain vodka," Garland remarked, causing Kat to shrug.

"You shouldn't assume things about people,"

"And neither should you,"

Kat mentally kicked herself for walking into that one. She was hoping that Brooklyn or Garland hadn't noticed her apparent dislike for them but on the other hand, she wasn't necessarily making it a secret. She glanced at the tall man beside her and began eyeing him. She refrained from something anything further as to not dig herself a deeper hole.

Kat was hoping that maybe Garland would just walk off and leave her to herself but the silver haired beyblader seemed to be more interested as to what was making her so hostile towards him. Garland knew Brooklyn had gone without noticing Kat's dislike of him, but Brooklyn was always like that, somewhat oblivious. Garland wasn't and he was suddenly determined as to why Kat didn't take a liking to him. They had only just met an hour ago.

"If you hate it here so much why'd you come?" Garland asked, leaning close to Kat to make sure she heard him.

Kat merely glanced at him then rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for talking but she could tell that Garland wasn't going to leave her alone until he got the answers he wanted. With a half silent huff Kat informed the curious male as to why she had gone clubbing with them in the first place.

Garland nodded as he registered everything she told him. "I understand I guess. At first I wasn't too fond of the idea of having Hiro and Brooklyn dragging me around to go clubbing but I opened up to it. I don't really dance but I usually have a good time," He hadn't meant to share that much with her but for some reason, Garland just couldn't get himself to be quiet.

Garland half expected Kat to give him an odd look for telling her so much but the black haired miss merely shrugged and finished off her drink. Not the reaction he had expected but definitely better. Garland cocked an eyebrow as he thought about a sudden idea that came to his mind. Maybe he could get Kat to open up a little, maybe that way she wouldn't be so cold hearted towards him and Brooklyn.

"Want another one?" he asked, pointing to Kat's empty glass.

Kat glanced at him with curiosity. She was more than able to get and pay for another drink but it was evident Garland was playing at something. Interested as to just what Garland was up to, the black haired beyblader shrugged and said sure. At least she could get free drinks out of going along with him.

* * *

><p>Everyone, except Kai had migrated to the kitchen. Hilary, Toni, Naomi and the Blade breakers present in the kitchen were all watching with bemusement as most of the S.A.S.C members sang along to the song playing on Torah's cell phone.<p>

The girls were rather out of key but that didn't stop them from continuing to play karaoke while they gathered up all the snacks and began placing them on the table.

All Girls:   
><em>S.O.S. she's in disguise<br>S.O.S. she's in disguise  
>There's a she wolf in disguise<br>Coming out, coming out, coming out  
><em>

Tiky:_  
>A domesticated girl that's all you ask of me<br>Darling it is no joke, this is lycanthropy  
>The moon's awake now with eyes wide open<br>My body's craving, so feed the hungry_

Torah:  
><em>I've been devoting myself to you Monday to Monday and Friday to Friday<br>Not getting enough retribution or decent incentives to keep me at it  
>I'm starting to feel just a little abused like a coffee machine in an office<br>So I'm gonna go somewhere cozy to get me a lover  
>And tell you all about it<em>

All: _  
>There's a she wolf in your closet<br>Open up and set her free  
>There's a she wolf in your closet<br>Let it out so it can breathe_

Tiky:  
><em>Sitting across a bar, staring right at her prey<br>It's going well so far, she's gonna get her way  
>Nocturnal creatures are not so prudent<br>The moon's my teacher, and I'm her student_

Kierra:  
><em>To locate the single men, I got on me a special radar<br>And the fire department hotline in case I get in trouble later  
>Not looking for cute little divos or rich city guys that just want to enjoy<br>But having a very good time and behave very bad in the arms of a boy_

As the girls danced around and finished up the song, the Blade breakers could help but clap and laugh at their performance. It was more than entertaining and much to their surprise, in great contrast to their out of tune singing, the girls' dance moves as they trotted around the kitchen were very well executed.

"You guys are too much," Hilary laughed, "What other songs do you have on there?"

Torah giggled as she picked her cell phone up off of the kitchen table and began searching through her song inventory.

"I don't know what you guys like," the blue eyes, brown skinned girl remarked as she scanned her phone's playlist. She paused on a song then looked up and smirked at her sister, "Oh, this is Naomi's jam right here,"

Before Naomi could say a word, Torah had hit the play button, turned her phone up as loud as she could and allowed the music to start playing.

Ray suddenly jumped up and turned to his teammates with a toothy grin on his face, "I know this song!"

Max laughed, "Me too!"

Just as the first verse came up, Tyson jumps into the middle of the kitchen and starts belting out the words into his fist.

Tyson:   
><em>It's your birthday so I know<br>you want to riiide out,  
>Even if we only go to myyy house<br>Sip mo- weezy as we sit upon myyy couch  
>Feels good, but I know you want to<br>cryyy out_

Max:   
><em>You say you want passion<br>I think you found it  
>Get ready for action<br>Don't be astounded  
>We switchin' positions<br>You feel surrounded  
>Tell me where you want<br>your gift, girl_

Ray, Tyson & Max:   
><em>Girl you know I-I-I<br>Girl you know I-I-I_

Tyson:  
><em>I've been feenin'<br>Wake up in the late night...dreamin' about your lovin'_

Ray, Tyson & Max:  
><em>Girl you know I-I-I<br>Girl you know I-I-I _

Max:   
><em>Don't need candles or cake<br>just need your body to make good_

Ray, Tyson & Max:  
><em>Birthday sex<br>Birthday sex  
>it's the best day of the year, girl<br>Birthday sex  
>Birthday sex<em>

Tyson:   
><em>See you sexy and them jeans got me<br>on 10  
>1-2-3, think I got you pinned<br>don't tap out...fight until the end  
>Ring that bell; we gon start over again<em>

Ray:  
><em>We grindin' wit passion, cuz it's yo birthday<br>Been at it for hours...I know you thirsty  
>You kiss me so sweetly...taste just like Hershey's<br>Just tell me how you want yo gift, girl_

The girls began to burst out into hysterical laughter as Ray, Max and Tyson went on with their random concert. They were still slightly out of tune like Torah, Tiky and Kierra had been but just seeing them sing a rather dirty song with more than needed soulful movements made the girls nearly choke on whatever they were eating.

Playing up to their mostly female crowd, the boys began to walk around, singing to the girls to entertain them more.

As they got to the last verse of the song, the three boys stood in a line and began doing sexy body rolls, causing the girls to laugh, holler and cheer for them.

Ray, Tyson & Max:  
><em>First I'm gonna take a dive into the water deep until I know I pleased<br>that body (body ah oop)  
><em>

_Or girl without a broom  
>I might just sweep you off your feet<br>and make you wanna tell somebody (body, how I do) _

_Or maybe we can float on top my water bed you close your eyes as I improv between your legs  
>we work our way from kitchen stoves, and tables<br>Girl you know I'm more than able to please, yeah _

_Say you wanted flowers on the bed (on the bed)  
>but you got me and now it's on again<em>

As the three of them finished up the song, the girls immediately began clapping and laughing even harder. Max and Tyson bowed to their public while Ray stayed back, slightly embarrassed by what he had done but he couldn't help but wear a large smile on his face.

"Nope, that was serious," Torah clapped as she tried her hardest to keep herself upright, "They did body rolls..."

"I was expecting some stripper stuff after that, man!" Kierra laughed, adding to Torah's comment, "I didn't know boys could pull stuff like that,"

Tyson popped his collar as he smirked at his neighbours, "Its how we do,"

The Sweet and Sour candies began clapping again, while Daichi and Kenny laughed at their teammates' sudden outburst. Hilary would've immersed herself more into the hilarious antics and banter about Max, Tyson and Ray's performance but she suddenly remembered that Kai had been left in the other room and that she hadn't brought him back anything.

Hilary quickly turned to look at the table full of snack and once finding what she knew Kai would like, the brunette quietly slipped out of the kitchen, and back down the hall to the living room.

* * *

><p>Kat had lost track of everything. What time it was, who was in the vicinity of her and how many drinks she had consumed but at that particular moment, she didn't care. Garland had turned out to be more interested company than Kat thought he'd be and the silver haired BEGA blader was now trying to convince her to make her way to the dance floor.<p>

Although she was slightly intoxicated, Kat was reluctant to go out onto the floor and dance. She shook her head no as she began sipping from her Vodka tonic. Garland had convinced her to order something other than a Screwdriver all night and she was glad he did.

She could hardly taste the vodka over the ginger ale like taste of the vodka tonic but she really didn't mind.

"Oh come on, one dance and I'll leave you alone," Garland begged with a smile. He had drunk a sufficient amount of liquor as well and he wasn't as tense as he was when he first walked into the dojo.

Kat snorted as she slurped nearly a mouth full of liquor up through her straw, "I said I don't dance!" she barked but for some reason she laughed. She was being serious and wanted to get her message across but the alcohol in her system was throwing her off. Usually Kat was a very mean drunk but it seemed different with Garland.

The sliver haired boy pouted but laughed as he begged Kat to come and dance with him. He was able to drag the stony eyed girl a few good steps away from the bar but as soon as she stood her ground, he was unable to pull her any further without possibly hurting her.

"Come on. One dance and I'll leave you alone," Garland said giving Kat puppy dog eyes.

Kat rolled her eyes but pointed at her drink with a smile, "Get me another one of these, and _maybe_ I'll dance a little,"

Garland agreed then headed back to the bar to fetch Kat another vodka tonic. The reluctant blader waited for Garland to arrive back with her drink but as she waited, a young man, about twenty years old came out of no where and began talking to her and asking if she'd dance with him.

Kat looked the boy over then turned away. She wasn't at all interested but the boy wouldn't take no for an answer. Kat was about to walk off when he suddenly grabbed her by the arm.

"Hey, come on, don't be a bitch and just dance with me,"

Kat's eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance as she pulled herself from his grasp, who the hell did this guy think he was? Grabbing her like some sort of rag doll. Kat turned to the young man, mustered as much politeness as she could and asked him to leave her alone.

The guy had taken hold of Kat's hand and was about to drag her off to the dance floor when Garland arrived back with her drink, followed by J-Dymez and Hiro, who had been roaming the club since they arrived.

"I said leave me alone," Kat snapped as she pulled her hand free.

Just as the guy turned and Garland went to aid Kat the now angry beyblader had pulled her arm back and hand punched the young man that was troubling her in the face.

The guy stumbled back and fell on his behind, holding his nose. He pulled his hand back in order to check the status of his aching face but he saw blood in his palm. Kat had broken his nose.

"No means no, you dumb fuck," Kat spat as she grabbed the drink right out of Garland's hand and poured it on the young man's head. She then threw the glass into his lap and waited for security to remove him.

Garland, completely stunned and blank faced turned to Hiro and J-Dymez and said; "I think I found my future wife..."

Hiro began to laugh while J-Dymez shook her head. She had noticed Garland badgering Kat all night and she had expected that young man that was now getting escorted out of the club to be him but much to her surprise and relief, it wasn't.

This night was turning out better than she expected. J-Dymes turned to Hiro and lightly nudged him in the side to get his attention. Once Hiro looked down at her, she smirked.

"I guess I was worried about nothing. Looks like Garland and Kat are getting along,"

Hiro laughed again as he wrapped an arm around J-Dymez waist and kissed her temple, "Maybe they like each other more than we give them credit for. Come on... I'll buy you a drink,"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kai was still lying on the couch when Hilary arrived back to the living room. He had his hands behind his head and his eyes closed but as soon as she stepped back into the room, his dark purple eyes slowly began to open. He watched as Hilary cautiously made her way over to him.

She was trying not to make eye contact as she handed him a bag of Seafood flavoured Don Tacos tortilla chips.

"Sorry for taking so long, I got caught up in the craziness," Hilary apologized. She continued to stare down at her feet as Kai sat up and pulled open the snack bag.

The slate haired captain shrugged as he popped a chip in his mouth then went searching for the dipping sauce that came in the bag.

It wasn't a particularly healthy snack but Kai enjoyed them. Very much in fact and since Hilary always seemed eager to please; Kai knew he could send her to bring him a bag. Hopefully, if his will power held up, he wouldn't eat more than half the bag. If he did that would mean he'd have to work out extra hard tomorrow to burn it all off.

As soon as he found the dipping sauce Kai immediately popped it open. He dipped the chips into the barbeque dipping sauce then looked up at Hilary. He hadn't even noticed when she had decided to sit down on the edge of the couch nor did he notice when she began apologizing once again for taking so long and how amusing everything had been in the kitchen.

Kai had heard most of what was happening in the kitchen but he didn't bother to get up to see what was going on since such loud spectacles were never really his thing. In fact if it wasn't for his love of beyblading, he would have never become a mainstream beyblader, too loud and noisy.

Hilary suddenly went into describing what had happened in the kitchen in full detail. Hand gestures and everything. She explained to Kai how Torah had decided to play music and started a whole concert in the kitchen and after the whole incident was finished was when she remembered that she promised to bring Kai a snack.

In all honesty Kai didn't really care but he was pleased with the fact that she remembered to come back and bring him something. The relocation of noise to the kitchen was quite pleasant and it almost made him forget about the snacks.

"I hope you can forgive me," Hilary said as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Kai glanced back at her.

Tired of her apologizing Kai offered her some of his Don Tacos as a sign of no hard feelings... also; he offered them to her because he wanted her to be quiet.

Hilary turned to the slate haired beyblade captain with slight shock written on her face. Kai never shared anything if he had it in his grasp so she couldn't help but feel slightly honoured by his gesture. Just as she took a small handful of chips out of the bag, she had a sudden flash of last week.

Kai's tipsy affection flashed in her head and Hilary blushed. She quickly turned to look somewhere else so that Kai wouldn't notice but he had. He cocked an eyebrow at her as he watched everything she did but a small smirk tugged at his lips.

Did offering her food really just make her blush? It was slightly sophomoric but cute... Kai suddenly furrowed his eyebrows together. His sudden train of thought towards Hilary had changed dramatically since Ray had brought her up that one time when he found him in the meditation station on the far side of the dojo.

Kai paused as he continued to stare at Hilary. He was beginning to see her in a whole new light...

Just then, Kai's state of peace was ruined.

Everyone that had been in the kitchen was now returning to the living room. Kai rolled his eyes as the large group of teenagers motioning over to the sound system Hiro had installed only months prior.

The slate haired beyblade captain and the brunette girl adjacent to him cocked their eyebrows as they began to wonder just what their friends were doing.

Toni and Tyson were shoving each other, claiming that they knew what they were doing and both began shouting that the other was wrong. Max, Torah, Kenny and Kierra tried to tune the two out as they stared intently down towards God only knew what. Everyone else just kept quiet as they watched Max, Kierra, Torah and Kenny work.

Kai and Hilary couldn't see exactly what the group was doing but it was Hilary who got to her feet and walked over to peak in on just what they were all up too.

"Don't you think that end would go in there and then that one in there?" Max inquired, earning a 'hmm' from Torah, Kenny and Kierra while the rest of the group went 'huh?'

"No, that's too big, it probably has to go here," Kenny retorted as he pointed at something, but Hilary was still unable to see just what he was pointing at.

The boys were too tall and they were blocking her line of vision. The brunette tried desperately to find a way in without disturbing anyone but her efforts weren't as fruitful as she had hoped. Everyone was too fixated on doing whatever the hell they were doing and it was aggravating her.

Kai continued to watch from the couch as he ate from his bag of chips. His curious gaze had scanned the whole group but it was Hilary who kept on grabbing his attention. The way she tried to manoeuvre herself around everyone was a bit amusing to watch.

Finally giving up on getting past everyone, Hilary childish slammed her foot on the floor with irritation.

"What the hell are you guys doing!" she snapped, actually causing a bemused smirk to form on Kai's face.

Tiky turned her head around and finally, Hilary had been acknowledged. The brunette American pushed past Ray and Tyson slightly to talk to the frustrated brunette.

"Why so glum chum?" Tiky asked.

"I just want to know what you guys are doing. Why are you all crowding around Hiro's-" just as Hilary was about to finish her question, the entertainment system's stereos blared to life then died away just as quickly as it started.

The sudden loud noise caused everyone to jump but they laughed off the fright.

"See, I told you it was that plug," Tyson smirked down at Toni.

"Shut your face! It was Max that thought of it," Toni snapped back.

Tyson childishly blew a raspberry at Toni, which in turn caused her to grab his tongue and pull it. As soon as she released her vice-like grip on his tongue, Tyson angrily furrowed his eyebrows together at her and mumbled something incoherent.

"Any requests for DJ To-RAWR?" Torah asked with a gleeful smile as she looked at everyone.

The group's eyebrows rose as they also began looking at one another; "To-RAWR?"

"Hey! Its late and my brain is tired, it's the best I got!"

Before anyone could make a song request, Tyson began flipping through Torah's cell phone play list. He paused on a few songs but his teammates, as well as some of the S.A.S.C girls that were looking over his shoulder told him to keep going.

Kai grunted. The noise had come back and he knew they were going to be louder than ever.

"No, not that one, keep going," Daichi said as he peered down at the large lit screen. Tyson's eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance as he went over to the next playlist.

"Oh God, not that song," Toni remarked.

Tired of everyone else speaking in his ears, the navy haired boy glanced over his shoulders at everyone, "Hey! Shut the hell up. I gonna pick a song and you're all gonna like it!"

Caught off guard by Tyson's sudden proclamation, everyone remained silent until Tyson finally landed on the song he wanted. The beyblading world champion smirked as he hid the song away from the girls and showed his teammates.

"Oh God..." Ray murmured with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

"AH, come on Ray, it'll be hilarious," Max piped in as they watched Tyson hand Torah her phone back.

Torah looked down at the request and smiled, "Okay..."

"Don't start till we tell you okay?" Tyson said.

Torah cocked a curious eyebrow but the navy haired teen whispered to her what he had something planned and an excited expression came to her face. Torah nodded as Tyson got Ray, and Max to follow him out of the living room and down the hall.

"What are they doing?" Naomi asked her younger sibling.

"You'll see,"

* * *

><p>It took a few moments but Tyson managed to yell at everyone inside the living room to be seated while he and two members of his team stayed in the hallway. The girls, Kenny, Daichi and Kai all found places to sit as they all waited for whatever Tyson had planned to happen.<p>

The girls all exchanged possible ideas as to what Tyson and the boys were planning on doing but they still had no idea what to expect.

Although it had caused him to become quite annoyed, Kai couldn't help as to wonder just what the hell his teammates were up too.

As soon as Tyson yelled for the music to start, Kai began to figure out exactly what the navy haired world champion was up too and instantly he felt a pang of shame.

The girls, Kenny, Daichi and Kai averted their gazes to the living room doorway as Tyson came sliding into view, wearing only a white muscle shirt, his pyjama pants and a pair of sunglasses.

Tyson:

_Black dress, with the tights underneath  
><em>_I got the breath of the last cigarette on my teeth_

That was when Max and Ray came sliding through the door, dressed almost exactly like Tyson, except for the major fact that their pyjama pants and muscle shirts were all different colours.

Max:

_And she's an actress,  
>but she ain't got no need.<br>She's got money from her parents in a trust fund back east._

Ray:

_T-t-t-tongues always pressed to your cheeks,  
>while my tongue is on the inside of some other girls teeth<em>

Then the unthinkable happened...

Kai: 

_Tell your boyfriend if he says he's got beef  
>that I'm a vegetarian and I ain't fucking scared of him...<em>

Everyone paused from sheer shock as they all glanced at Kai with stunned faces. If not for the music playing, the room would have gone completely silent.

To top it off, he had just stated that one line of the song completely straight faced.

Kai glanced around at everyone with a cocked eyebrow, "I like that part..."

There was a state of pause before everyone else in the house roared with cheers and applause. They all said words of praise for Kai being such a good sport but as the repeated chorus came back around; the boys went on with their playful performance.

An incident like this had happened not to long ago. Kai remembered; back around two weeks ago, he and his teammates had all been sitting around the house bored out of their minds, watching music videos on the television when this song suddenly came on.

The cold blader didn't remember exactly how it happened but it started a karaoke movement within the dojo and the boys had belted out the lyrics wearing almost exactly what they had on right now.

There was an extreme amount of adrenaline flowing around the living room now and it was causing everyone to jump up and dance. The girls were singing along to the song while the Blade breakers that had decided to put on their little show selected a few of the girls to dance with.

Although the hype hadn't started until after Kai had randomly spoken a line from the song, the slate haired blader remained where he sat and watched everyone else wild out to the song.

Everyone was jumping to the beat and Kai was beginning to regret ever opening his mouth. Maybe if he hadn't said anything they wouldn't be as loud as they were now.

Kai's eyebrows came together but he wasn't sure what he was feeling. The energy in the room was overwhelming and he wasn't sure if it was making him annoyed, angry or if it was slightly hyping him up as well.

As Kai tried to think about it, Hilary and Tiky came running up to him out of nowhere and began trying to force him to stand up and dance with them. Kai resisted without any verbal protest but the girls began begging and tugging at him harder.

Kai grunted and wanted to tell them to just leave him alone but instead he got to his feet and with a huff he agreed to partake in their almost mosh pit like event. Hilary and Tiky squealed with delight as they each grabbed onto one of Kai's hands and began dragging him into their huge group.

_She wants to touch me (Whoa)  
>She wants to love me (Whoa)<br>She'll never leave me (Whoa, whoa, oh, oh)  
>don't trust a ho,<br>Never trust a ho,  
>won't trust a ho, (Cause a ho)<br>won't trust me._

Suddenly, Naomi gracefully prompted herself up onto the coffee table, holding onto Ray's hands as she did. The usually shy girl continued to dance around, causing everyone else to gaze up at her with surprise.

The dark skinned female had taken on a new persona and was singing along to the song while dance provocatively.

Naomi: 

_Shush girl shut your lips,  
>Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.<br>I said, Shush girl shut your lips,  
>Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips.<br>I said, Shush girl shut your lips,  
>Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips<em>

As she repeated the last line, Naomi rolled her hips to the beat of the song and caused another uproar, just like Kai had done. Her teammates cheered for her and the guys laughed with amusement. They never expected Naomi of all people to get up on the table and dance.

The tall and lanky girl agilely leapt off the coffee table and back down into their miniature mosh pit to continue dancing with her partner.

_She wants to touch me (Whoa)  
>She wants to love me (Whoa)<br>She'll never leave me (Whoa, whoa, oh, oh)  
>don't trust a ho,<br>Never trust a ho,  
>won't trust a ho, (Cause a ho)<br>won't trust me._

When Hiro and his group arrived back at the dojo they were all laughs due to the fair amount of alcohol in their systems.

Hiro and J-Dymez were the first to climb out of Brooklyn's car. The couple stumbled up the steps and continued to laugh while, Garland helped Kat out of the vehicle.

"Did you have fun?" Garland asked as he pulled the blue eyed beauty from the back seat.

"It was better than I expected," Kat informed as she looked up at the silver haired man in front of her.

The night had gone well for the five people that had gone clubbing, much to most of their own surprise.

Garland smiled warmly as he wrapped an arm around Kat's waist and offered to help her to the door. At this point, Kat would've told Garland off and said that she was more than capable to walk herself to the dojo's door but with a drunken half smile, she graciously accepted his offer.

Brooklyn remained in the car as Garland and Kat walked up the dojo's steps.

"You know, you're a lot more fun than I thought you'd be," Garland said as the two of them stopped at the door.

Kat shrugged and gave him another half smile, "I'm not so bad once you get past all the bitch," she remarked, causing them both to chuckle. He removed his arms from her waist and swiftly shoved them into his jean pockets.

"Maybe we should go out again sometime..."

Kat shrugged again, "I wouldn't mind... as long as I get to drink,"

Once again, they both laughed.

As soon as their pleasant guffaws died down Kat and Garland merely stood on the porch gazing at one another for a short while. Garland had began teetering back and forth on his heels now and was getting suspiciously close to Kat's face but due to the vodka in her system she didn't even notice his intentions until his lips were an inch from hers.

Before their lips could meet, Kat swiftly turned her head so that Garland would kiss her cheek instead. The silver haired male pulled back and cocked an eyebrow at her but he laughed anyway.

"What was that about?" he asked, sounding slightly dumbfounded.

"I'm not that easy," Kat smirked, "But nice try," she said and gave him a thumbs up before heading into the dojo. She quickly said goodbye and slowly shut the door behind her.

* * *

><p>J-Dymez stood in the living room doorway and smirked to herself as her maroon coloured eyes roamed over everyone in the room.<p>

Empty snack bags and boxes littered the coffee table, blankets and pillows were all over the place but not many of the teens J-Dymez could see were using them. Most of the Blade breakers and Sweet and Sour Candies were using each other as pillows as well as sticking close by each other for warmth.

J-Dymez gaze then went to the small digital clock sitting on the television stand. It was nearly three thirty in the morning and the original plan was for only Kat and herself to return home but J-Dymez knew that wasn't going to happen.

Kat had already found a comfortable place to sleep and was out cold. She was still in her clubbing clothes but that just emphasized just how tried they both were. The night had gone more pleasantly than anticipated and the girls had had a good time, not to mention they had been on their feet, in high heels for most of the night so why wouldn't they be tired?

Since Kat and J-Dymez had figured they'd be back in their own house by now, neither girl had a change of clothes but that didn't seem to matter to Kat at this very moment but it mattered to J-Dymez.

The dress she was currently wearing wasn't something to sleep in. Although it was an amazing dress it wasn't at all comfortable for leisurely purposes. The light skinned Jamaican trotted her way down the hall and looked down the bedroom corridor.

She was trying to remember which room belonged to Hiro's but she really didn't need to since in had caught the sound of her tired feet approaching. He had actually gone to his room to change but he stuck his head out of his bedroom door to see exactly where she was.

"Doesn't look like I'm goin' home tonight," she stated as she made her way over to the elder Kinomiya.

Hiro smiled and shrugged, "Guess not. Need something to sleep in?"

"You read my mind," J-Dymez chuckled as she manoeuvred around Hiro and into his room. She sat down on the edge of his bed while he dug through his dresser drawer in search of something for her to sleep in.

He finally found something, a t-shirt, and he tossed it to her. He was about to go searching for a pair of pyjama pants or some boxer shorts but J-Dymez stated that she'd be fine with just the t-shirt.

Hiro left the room to give his female companion some privacy to change and he closed the door behind him.

J-Dymez quickly pulled her dress over her head and slipped Hiro's t-shirt on. She pulled her hair tie out of her curly tresses and began combing through it with her fingers.

Hiro knocked on the door and asked if she was decent and she told him to come back into the room. Hiro pushed the door open but froze for a moment as he caught sight of J-Dymez combing her fingers through her hair.

"Never knew it was that long," Hiro remarked as he made his over to his bed and took a seat beside her.

J-Dymez usually wore her hair up in a high ponytail but now that it was down and out, Hiro could see that it was just past shoulder length. If she straightened it, her hair would probably be a half an inch or an inch longer than it was at the current moment.

J-Dymez shrugged as she finished combing her hair with her digits and placed her hair tie around her wrist. She then turned to Hiro and asked where she'd be sleeping for the night.

"I don't see anything wrong with you staying in here."

As she leaned back to prompt herself on her elbows, J-Dymez sent Hiro a smirk, "Are you saying you want me to sleep in your room by myself or are you planning on playin' blanket and keeping me warm?"

Hiro smirked as a chuckle came bubbling to the surface, "Whatever your comfortable with,"

She shrugged, "What will our teams think?"

"Like it matters,"

J-Dymez laughed as she nimbly got to her feet. She did a slinky sort of waltz up to the top of the bed, pulled back the comforter and climbed in.

Hiro cocked an eyebrow and began smirking at the twenty-one year old.

"Are you suggesting something?"

"Suggesting something? I'm not suggesting anything. You're the perverted one; I'm just getting ready for bed." although she had tried to say all that in an innocent voice there was no denying the slight undertone of a seductive voice.

" If you're trying to play off your little signals, you're doing a poor job,"

"Stop foolin' around," she snapped with a sort of gleeful voice. She took the pillow adjacent to her and threw it at him. Hiro swiftly caught his fluffy attacker just before it hit his face and threw it back.

Instead of catching the pillow, J-Dymez merely moved herself out of the way. To avoid the counter attack Hiro had sent, J-Dymez had focused all her attention on the pillow and hadn't even noticed when Hiro had made his way over to her.

J-Dymez's maroon eyes were greeted by Hiro's wine red ones. Before she could even react, Hiro had pulled her close to him in order to plant a kiss on her still glossy lips. J-Dymez wrapped her arms around Hiro's neck as they continued to kiss one another.

They pulled away to catch a breather but before Hiro could move in for another one, J-Dymez placed her finger against his lips to halt the next kiss.

"Don't start thinkin' your gettin' some ass tonight, cause that's not the case,"

Hiro grunted but laughed and pulled her hand away from his face, "You're killing me, Janielle."

The couple laughed as Hiro wrapped one of his arms around J-Dymez's waist and used his opposite hand to twist a few locks of her curly brown hair around his finger. In turn, J-Dymez brought her hands up to rest on either side of Hiro's face.

She smiled and began tracing light trails along Hiro's cheeks with her fingertips, "How'd your team become mainstream?"

Hiro smiled back, "I thought you wanted nothing to do with mainstream. As a matter of fact, I don't even know how you tolerate me, since you hate us mainstream beybladers so much,"

J-Dymez sent him a playful but stern look to tell him to stop mocking her.

"I'm curious; besides, you're not _that_ bad..."

"Gee thanks..." he chuckled, "I'll tell you if you tell me more about your team,"

J-Dymez usually serious look came back to her face. She paused to think about the proposition...

"Deal..."

A smirk made its way to Hiro's handsome face but to reasons unknown to the stern yet attractive girl beside him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It was sometime before sunrise when Kai suddenly awoke from his deep slumber. The slate haired teen quickly rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes as his tired gaze went searching through the darkness to see what the time was.

He groaned at the sight of those neon red digital numbers saying that it was 4:35 A.M.

Knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to get himself to go back to sleep, Kai decided that he might as well start his daily routine. At least he'd probably finish his daily exercises before everyone woke up to have breakfast. Not to mention the fact that he'd miss the morning rush for the bathroom.

Just as the cold Blade breakers captain attempted to put himself in an upright position, he noticed that something was weighing him down.

Kai cocked an eyebrow as he cautiously stretched his hand out to feel for whatever was lying on top of him. He relaxed slightly as he touched something soft and silky, instantly recognizing it as the top of someone's head.

Kai paused as he tried to figure out just who was laying on him. In all honesty, all he really remembered last night was their random mosh pit party and that was as far as his memory went. Kai couldn't recall at all when any of them had fallen asleep, let alone who he was sharing the couch with.

The nineteen year old shifted slightly and the person above him stirred. They weren't too heavy and Kai assumed whoever was brave enough to be sleeping on him was probably one of the girls. Which one it was, was the enigma at hand.

AS his curiosity grew, Kai shifted again to see if the body atop of him would stir once more. Whoever the female was, did stir but instead of remaining asleep, the person suddenly jolted awake and the top of their head collided with Kai's unsuspecting face.

"Oh fuck!" Kai cursed as his head got thrown back from the collision. He brought one of his hands up to his sore nose as the person that had been sleeping on him sat up.

"Huh? What... Kai?" as soon as the person spoke Kai instantly knew who the female was. It was Hilary, but that currently didn't matter at the time. Kai was too focused on his injured face to really care anymore.

"A-Are you okay?" the brunette asked as she slowly reached out and began fingering Kai's face.

The injured beyblade captain swiftly caught hold of the brunette's wrist to restrain her. It was bad enough her head smashed right into his nose; he didn't need her fingers possibly poking him in the eyes.

"Yeah..." He sniffled with pain, "I'm fine," it took Kai a moment to fully compose himself but after a deep breath or two, he was alright again.

"Are you sure? You sound like you're in pain," Hilary remarked as she pulled back slightly, causing Kai to release his grip on her.

"Yeah, well getting smashed in the face by someone's head will do that to you," He groaned as he returned to nesting his head against the couch's arm rest. Kai felt a sudden headache coming on and he needed to lie down.

Although Hilary's accidental attack had caused him an extreme amount of pain... Kai couldn't help but smirk a little bit on how odd that may have looked if anyone else had seen it.

Kai was never really one to laugh at himself but the way it all played out in his head was actually rather funny...

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! You want me to get you some ice? I could do that if you want me too," Hilary was about to get up to fetch the purple eyed male some ice but she stopped as she heard Kai stifle a chuckle.

"No. It's fine. I'm okay," he breathed, but there was no hiding the glint of amusement in his tone. Caught off guard by Kai's sudden need to laugh, Hilary cocked an eyebrow at him in the darkness.

"Are you sure you're okay...?"

"Yeah," he stated as he prompted himself up on his elbows, "I'll live,"

There was an abnormally long moment of pause as Hilary listened to Kai trying to force a laugh back down his throat. Although he was trying to hide it, the way his body kept jerking from holding the chuckle in was a dead give away. It was actually starting to make Hilary giggle herself.

The brunette brought her hands up to her mouth as a small titter of joy escaped her lips, "Are you sure you're okay?" she managed to choke out before another giggle surfaced.

Hilary's light laughter finally broke Kai's resolve and he finally let out the chuckle that had been trying to escape his lips for the past five minutes, "Yeah, I'll be alright,"

The two of them laughed quietly for some time and as soon as their laughter decreased Hilary looked down at Kai through the darkness and suddenly stiffened.

Kai cocked an eyebrow as he felt her body go abnormally rigid. He was about to ask her what the matter was until he felt it himself.

Hilary always seemed to get tense when she was too far in his personal space and vice versa. She wasn't necessarily in his personal space but the fact that she was straddling him was probably what was making her suddenly very uncomfortable, but once again Kai forced down a chortle of amusement.

Was she really about ready to freak out over their current sitting position? Kai had known Hilary for years and he knew a thing or two about her mannerisms but this was ridiculous. Was she really about to go into her apologetic mode over something that had pretty much happened by accident?

Kai wasn't sure why but a slightly devilish idea came careening into his psyche as he thought about the situation. He placed his hands behind his head and a smirk made its way across his face as he suddenly jerked his pelvis over to the right and nearly threw Hilary off of him.

The brunette yelped loudly as she quickly took hold of Kai's shoulder's to balance herself and to prevent herself from falling.

"That wasn't funny!" Hilary whined as she felt Kai's body move with silent laughter, "What if I fell on someone?"

Kai shrugged as he continued to smirk at the currently obscured brunette. "I think that would've been funny, don't you?"

"No," although she had tried to sound stern, Kai still caught the slightly embarrassed tone and glint of delight in her voice.

Kai shrugged again, "Then you have no sense of humour,"

Hilary gasped as she pretended to take great offense in Kai's comment, "No sense of humour? How can you say that? I'm always making jokes,"

Again, Kai shrugged but once again, he jerked to the side to try and knock Hilary off balance. She had almost fallen completely off of him this time but instead of just holding onto his shoulders, like before, Hilary had fallen almost completely forward and her face was now only inches away from Kai's.

Hilary's body went stiff again but she smacked him in the arm. She groaned and cautiously began sitting upright again.

"Quit doing that! It's not funny," Hilary wanted to seem stern and solid but she couldn't help but smile at Kai's sudden onslaught of playfulness. It was like a breath of fresh air...

"Oh really? If you find it so distasteful then why do you keep laughing?"

Hilary paused. He had her there so as a response, she just smacked him in the arm again and giggled, "Shut up..."

A sigh of amusement escaped from Kai as he continued to listen to Hilary giggle. At least she wasn't tense anymore. The only thing that was currently bothering him was why he had decided on acting like that all of a sudden.

As if his thoughts had an instant connection with his mouth, Kai smirked and said; "I like you better when you're not acting like your dead scared of me," he kicked himself mentally for saying something so random but Hilary didn't seem to take his statement negatively like he was expecting her too.

His eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness so Kai saw when Hilary sent him a faint smile and moved a lock of her chocolate hair and placed it behind her ear.

"I guess..." she murmured and Kai could instantly tell she was blushing.

The situation was starting to get a little awkward for him so Kai managed to finally sit up. He slipped out from under Hilary and carefully placed his feet on the ground. The slate haired teen got to his feet and quickly headed for the living room doorway, leaving Hilary sitting on the couch, completely dumbstruck.

"... What the hell was that about?" she asked herself as she scratched her head in confusion. After all that playfulness Kai still managed to be his usually cold self and just got up and left.

* * *

><p>Kai had finally finished his daily toiletries and had just exited the bathroom when he almost bumped into Ray. The feline like teen, usually being the morning person that he was, smiled at Kai and offered him a chipper good morning.<p>

Kai gave Ray his usual morning greeting, a 'Hn'. And he moved out of the way so that Ray could use the bathroom.

"Planning to do some weight lifting?" Ray asked as he went searching through the medicine cabinet for his toothbrush.

"Yeah. Why?" Kai asked as he looked at his friend. Ray merely shrugged.

"Just curious, I was gonna go for a morning jog. Wanna come?"

"Hn,"

"I'm going to take that as a no,"

"Hn,"

Ray laughed as he finally found his toothbrush. He closed the mirrored cabinet and turned on the faucet. "Man, you were a lot more talkative when you were flirting with Hilary this morning,"

Kai was actually about to make his way down the hall when he stopped dead in his tracks from Ray's comment. Kai walked backwards in order to get Ray back in his sight as he cocked an angry eyebrow and said: "Excuse me?"

Ray smirked as he squeezed a dollop of toothpaste onto his toothbrush and stuffed it into his mouth, "I heard you two this morning. You woke me with your giggling,"

Kai felt a small vein pop near his temple, "I did _NOT_ giggle,"

"Umhmm..." Ray remarked as he spat into the sink and continued on with brushing his teeth, "Yeah and I'm sure you weren't flirting with her either,"

"I wasn't!"

"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt,"

"It's not. It's called _the_ Nile,"

"Don't get smart with me," The golden eyed eighteen year old laughed as he spat into the sink again, "You guys were totally flirting,"

Annoyed by his friends comments Kai just decide to let Ray believe what he wanted. The slate haired teen returned to walking down the hall but not before Ray stuck his head through the bathroom doorway and said;

"You guys looked _sooooo cute_!" Ray remarked as he jokingly batted his eyelashes.

Kai swiftly turned on his heels and tried lunging for Ray but the eighteen year old was quick enough to close and lock the bathroom door before Kai could cause him any bodily harm.

"Just wait until you get out of there Kon..."

The only thing Kai heard was the sound of Ray's muffled guffaws as he banged his fist against the bathroom door then walked away.

As Kai made his way down the hall he began thinking about what Ray had said. He hadn't really flirted with Hilary but looking at it from Ray's point of view, he could see why he thought he had been flirting with the brunette.

Kai scowled slightly as he looked over his shoulder, back towards the bathroom.

Why'd Ray have to be so observant and nosy? Why couldn't he just mind his own business? If it wasn't for him and his 'busybody' attitude Kai wouldn't even being seeing Hilary in that sort of light.

He mentally paused. What kind of light was he seeing her in? Nothing had really changed in the way he saw Hilary, had it? His train of thought began recalling all the moments he had actually stopped to really look at the cheery brunette.

Kai had become so swept up in his thoughts that he didn't even see Hilary as he turned the corner. The two teens collided into one another for the second time that morning and Hilary fell on her backside while Kai merely stumbled back.

The slate haired teen shook himself out of his thought induced trance as he looked down at the girl on the floor. Speak of the devil...

"Maybe we need to get you a bell or something," Kai remarked as he stretched his hand out for Hilary to grab. The Japanese brunette took hold of Kai's hand and allowed for him to help her to her feet.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Hilary joked as she once again, moved a strand of chocolate tresses out of her face.

"I agree," Kai retorted, he had been smirking but as soon as he realized exactly what Ray had been telling him, the smirk was wiped clean off his face. It wasn't happening intentionally but He and Hilary actually were flirting with one another.

"Um..." Hilary began speaking, "So... how's your face?"

Kai glanced at the brunette then towards an inanimate object just past her head as he quickly mulled something over in his mind. What was wrong with a little flirting if no one saw?

"It's still there..."

Hilary gave him a rather sarcastic look as she folded her arms lazily, "Well...aren't you the comedian this morning,"

Kai shrugged as devilish sort of smirk appeared on his face.

"Is anyone in the bathroom?"

Kai sent Hilary a questioning look for her sudden question, "Ray. Why?"

"Oh, Um, mom called and..."

"Hn..." Kai rolled his eyes at the sound of 'mom', causing Hilary to smile.

"Yeah. She can be such a pain sometimes. She says she wants me to go home and finish my chores before she gets home tonight so I was hoping I could get into the bathroom early and just head out for the bus and get that all done before she throws a hissy fit,"

"Hn,"

"Yeah... guess I'll have to just wait until Ray's done,"

Kai shrugged as he leaned up against the hallway wall. "I suppose."

The two stood in silence for a moment before Kai glanced over at Hilary from the corner of his eyes. Even though her hair was a complete mess and she was decked out in her pyjamas, Kai did have to admit that Hilary really was pretty...

As if she could feel his eyes on her, Hilary glanced at Kai from the corner of her eyes but quickly turned away as soon as their eyes had met. She had no idea as to why he was just gazing at her like that but she was really hoping that he'd stop.

Hilary began to mentally batter herself over her appearance. She was currently sharing the hallway with her crush and she looked like a total mess!

Still feeling his eyes on her Hilary couldn't help but suddenly squirm with discomfort. "I know I look like a train wreck but you don't have to stare..." she groaned.

Kai gave her an odd sort of look but shrugged, "Its better than you looking all prissy." Hilary quickly spun on her heels to turn to the slate haired teen and the way she was looking at him gave Kai the idea that maybe she needed an explanation of what he meant. "I'm not saying you don't like... nice when you're all... dressed up..." it too him a moment to get the right words, "I think you look okay now. You know... natural,"

Hilary opened and closed her mouth a few times. She wanted to say something but nothing right seemed to come to mind. After a long and awkward pause, the brown eyed girl finally managed to say: "Um... thank you,"

Earning her another Kai shrug.

"You know..." Kai began, recapturing Hilary's attention. "You could've asked for a ride home."

"Oh... well I didn't want to bother anyone into taking me. Tyson and Hiro are still asleep and you didn't seem too eager the last time you brought me home-"

"I was forced the last time. I'm offering now, so you either take the offer of leave it..."

Hilary's eyes couldn't help but widened at Kai's new found attitude.

Somewhat hesitate but very pleased about the offer Hilary accepted and whispered a gracious thank you as she leaned up against the opposite wall. Hilary then quickly, averted her gaze else where, chanting to herself not to make a fool of herself and blush.

As soon as she was able to calm herself, the brunette turned to Kai and was about to ask why the sudden generosity when she heard her cell phone go off. Hilary rolled her eyes since she knew exactly who was calling.

"Um, I'll be right back. Could you tell me when Ray's out of the bathroom?"

Kai shrugged, "Sure..."

"Thank you," Hilary smiled warmly as she made her way back down the hall and into the living room.

"I heard all that," Ray notified from the bathroom, causing Kai to grunted and glare daggers at the bathroom door, slightly hoping his gaze would melt the wood so he could gain access to his peanut gallery.

"Shut up Kon,"

* * *

><p>Hilary and an oddly interactive Kai decided that he'd drive her home sometime after breakfast which had come sooner than they expected it to. Thanks to Mrs. Tachibana's constant calling, Hilary and everyone else that had slept in the living room were now in the kitchen.<p>

They were all trying to manoeuvre their way around one another. Some were preparing for breakfast while others were just roaming around to see what everyone was doing.

Being the only one with actual culinary skills, Ray did most of the cooking while a good few of his teammates as well as some of the Sweet and Sour candies waited behind him and watched as he worked.

"This is really awkward you guys, can't you all just sit down?" the golden eyed teen asked as he looked over his shoulders at everyone.

Although he didn't usually mind people hovering over him as he cooked, there were a lot more people behind him than usual so the long haired male was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable with all those eyes watching him.

"I just wanna see if you're makin' my ham right... if you don't I'll make you do it again," Torah remarked as she, Tiky and Tyson stared down into the frying pan with awe.

Ray rolled his eyes but smiled at the overeager girl, "Maybe you could all just sit down. I don't want to burn any of you. Besides, Kierra's trying to cook too."

"Yeah but we ain't gonna eat any of her food," Toni remarked.

"Rude," Kierra commented.

"Guys, maybe he's right. Maybe you should all just back off a little, the food will be ready soon..." Naomi spoke in her usual meek tone of speaking.

Tired of hearing for them to all sit, all the people watching Ray and Kierra make breakfast finally found places to sit with a collective grumble.

"Thanks Naomi," Ray smiled as he looked at the lanky chocolate skinned girl sitting at the table.

"Oh... you're welcome," Naomi smiled back.

Tiky and Torah exchanged glances then turned to Naomi and began making kissy faces at her. Naomi's lavender eyes went wide and she squealed a feeble, "Quit it!"

After a few moments, Ray and Kierra had finally finished with whatever they were making and brought it to the table. As soon as Kierra placed down her plate, her teammates, as well as the Blade breakers that had heard horror stories of Kierra's cooking instantly became sceptical.

Usually Kierra's food looked about as good as it tasted... horrible... but today the bacon, hash browns and eggs she made actually looked like bacon, hash browns and eggs.

Noticing their hesitation Ray notified that he had actually helped Kierra with some of her breakfast and instantly everyone cautiously began reaching for some of the stuff that Kierra has placed on the table.

"If I die..." Torah began as she took a hash brown then looked at Ray, "I want you to be buried with me because it'll be your fault that I died from food poisoning,"

"But, what about me! What If I live?" Tiky asked.

"You gotta be buried with me too. You're like my hand bag!"

"Oh come on, my cooking's not _that_ bad!" Kierra remarked, causing everyone in the kitchen to look at her as if she had said something in pure gibberish. "...Okay, rude,"

As everyone began passing everything around, Kierra and Ray finally sat down. Kierra sat between Kenny and Torah while Ray sat between Naomi and Daichi.

As soon as Naomi had gotten what she wanted, the tall girl instantly began to dig in, causing all the Blade breakers to stare at her in disbelief.

She appeared to be the skinniest one there but she had the most food on her plate. The Sweet and Sour Candies just went on like everything was normal so the boys had to assume that this was a regular thing.

"Damn. I thought I was bad," Tyson remarked as he watched Naomi with his head slightly cocked to the side.

"You don't think she's gonna eat all that do ya?" Daichi asked the navy haired boy.

"You'd be surprised..." Toni commented.

As if finally taking notice of everyone watching her, Naomi looked up. She saw that all the Blade Breakers eyes were on her and she instantly dropped her fork and knife and straightened up.

"Um... I'm really hungry,"

"We can see that," Tyson stated, earning a few snickers.

"Ignore him," Ray said, shooting Tyson a displeased sort of look.

"Tyson's right, first the table dancing, now this," Max added, he didn't intend to be offensive but there was no denying Naomi was somewhat embarrassed.

"We have an undercover freak on our hands," Tyson joked.

"Leave her alone, Tyson," Ray said in a warning sort of tone, causing all of the other Blade breakers to back off.

"Thanks," Naomi smiled as she began fiddling with her fingers, "It's really good by the way,"

Ray shrugged and smiled as a hint of a blush appeared on his cheeks, "I'm not one to brag-"

"Yes you are," Kai said as he pretended to cough into his orange juice.

"I heard that,"

"You hear everything..."

Everyone at the table began to laugh as Kai and Ray shared warning glances at one another.

"Oh snap! Hiwatari's got jokes," Torah remarked as she, Kierra and Tiky watched the interactions of everyone in the kitchen with great interest.

"You shouldn't be mean to anyone just because you're jealous," Naomi was never known to be someone that could stick up for anyone, let alone herself but it seemed that the dark skinned Jamaican and Barbadian mix had grown a back bone and had just stood up to Kai in Ray's defence.

Nearly everyone's jaws dropped as they looked at Naomi, who quickly covered her mouth, she hadn't meant for what she said to come off sounding so defensive and blunt but just to causing some morning entertainment, Torah, Tiky and Kierra instigated the situation by saying: "Ooohhh!"

This caused some of the others to join in with them.

"That was brave," Tyson laughed under his breath, causing Toni and Max, who was sitting on opposite sides of him to laugh.

"Hey, don't hate on the girl 'cause she was defending her man," Toni added in, causing Ray to blush and Naomi's eyes to widen.

"I-He-I mean- we're not- I- AH!" Naomi whimpered as she hid her face with her hands, causing everyone to laugh.

"Aww, they're so cute when they play dumb," Kai remarked, earning him a stern glare from Ray. Kai merely just smirked back. It was payback for Ray's little comment about him and Hilary earlier that day.

As the others continued to laugh while Hilary tried assuring Naomi that they were all joking, J-Dymez and Hiro had finally woken up and were currently entering the kitchen. This caused the group to go completely silent as they all watched the twenty-two and twenty-one year old make their way over to the table.

Noticing that the room had gone awkwardly silent Hiro and J-Dymez looked at their junior teammates and sent them all inquired looks.

"What?" J-Dymez asked in an annoyed tone.

"Nothing..." Everyone said as they all exchanged mischievous glances.

Hiro and J-Dymez looked at everyone in the kitchen and then each other. They weren't sure as to what was going on but they honestly weren't in the mood for it.

"I'm gonna go change," J-Dymez stated as she gave each person in the kitchen, except Hiro, a stern and mean look. She turned to the blue haired twenty-two year old and then quietly told him to bring their food back to his room. Hiro sent her a quick smirk before nodding.

He did it as subtly as possible but everyone in the kitchen caught when Hiro playfully smacked J-Dymez on the rear end.

Just as the light skinned Jamaican female began exiting the kitchen, Torah and her two minions decided to make more trouble as they began chanting a little something for everyone to laugh at.

"B-B-B-Booty call. B-B-B-Booty call..."

J-Dymez quickly turned on her heels and narrowed her Maroon coloured eyes at the three trouble makers but quickly turned back to exit the kitchen.

Everyone tried holding in their laughter as Hiro walked over to the table to grab himself and J-Dymez something to eat.

"You guys are in so much trouble." The blue haired coach remarked as she gathered up the food, "Make sure to leave some for Kat, alright?" and with that, he was out of the kitchen.

As soon as they all heard Hiro's bedroom door close all the laughter they had been holding in broke loose.

"I _TOLD_ you she was gonna let him in her cookie jar. You owe me five bucks Max!" Torah said as she pointed an accusing finger at the freckled face blonde.

"Hey! Just because they slept in the same bed doesn't mean he got her cookies," Max replied in his wallet's defence.

"Max... Who the hell are you kidding?" Tyson turned to his blonde friend and laughed.

"I know, right," the blue eyed blonde laughed.

* * *

><p>As soon as everyone had finally gotten dressed, the Sweet and Sour candies began to head home with a very cranky and pain killer seeking Kat while Hilary and Kai prepared to head out for the brunette's house.<p>

Hiro threw Kai the car keys and the slate haired teen caught them without any strain or effort.

"See you guys later," Hilary said as she opened the door, allowing the group of female friends to begin exiting. They all said their goodbyes as they began filing out and some even suggested that they do the whole co-ed sleepover again.

Kat merely groaned and grunted, urging her teammates to move faster so that she could get to the extra strength anesthetics she had waiting for her in her room.

"Alright, alright ya orc, we're goin'!" Tiky said as she pushed the crabby female out the door.

As soon as all the S.A.S.C girl's were out the door and down the short patio steps, Hilary followed soon after then lastly Kai.

"Kai, before you go," Ray called out, causing Kai to pause and look at him. The cat-like male smirked, tapped his nose and said; "No means No, remember that,"

Kai shot Ray a death glare before flipping him the middle finger and slamming the door behind him.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

As Kai headed over to Hiro's Mitsubishi Gallant to start it, Hilary took a moment to talk with the neighbours before they headed next door to their house.

"So, you guys have anything planned today?" the brunette asked with courteous curiosity.

"Well we have a bey-" Kierra was about to tell Hilary their plans for the day when Toni nudged the green eyed Trinidadian/ Jamaican in the ribs, stopping her speech completely.

"We're gonna just chill today, nothing major. Maybe work on our beyblades a little," The half pint female stated as she subtly sent Kierra a look that told her to keep her mouth shut.

Although that had been somewhat suspicious, Hilary didn't consider the girls' need to keep things vague offensive. Even though they had all grown very close over the past week, the Sweet and Sour candies were probably still cautious on what they told Hilary and the Blade breakers.

She assumed they would grow out of it sooner or later when the time came.

"Oh, that reminds me, how's your beyblade doing Toni? Tyson broke your attack ring or something, didn't he?"

Toni shrugged, "Kleo'll be fine. She's a pretty strong blade,"

"She has a new attack ring so it's no big deal," Kierra said, earning her another elbow in the ribs.

"Lock your jaw!" Toni whispered to the long haired beauty but Hilary raised an eyebrow at the group with a little hint of suspicion in her look.

"Um... we gotta um..." To veer away from Toni and Kierra's suspicious behaviour, Torah was on the basis of a potential lie but nothing good enough came to mind. Her sidekick, Tiky decided to step in and complete her sentence.

"We gotta... clean our toenails!"

Torah gave Tiky a strange glance but went along with her anyway, "Uh... yeah... Can't be havin' busted up feet now can we?" Torah sent Hilary probably the largest fake smile she could muster as J-Dymez ordered for the girls to hurry and head out onto the sidewalk.

"Well, see you later Hilary," Naomi waved as she and the rest of her group headed for their house.

Hilary waved goodbye as well but she still had that half puzzled, half apprehensive look on her face. The brunette quickly turned to the black car and made her way over to it as to not keep Kai waiting any longer. Hilary slipped into the car, buckled her seatbelt and sat back as she and Kai Hiwatari pulled out of the driveway.

* * *

><p>As soon as the Sweet and Sour Candies finished entering their house, Kat instantly went to her room to get her pain killers while the other girls filed into their own living room.<p>

"Shit," Toni huffed as she threw her tiny self onto the three seater couch. J-Dymez and Naomi sat down with her while the others sat on the other couches. "That was pathetic. Our toes?"

"Hey!" Torah began, "Don't look at me! Talk to hand bag!" the terracotta skinned girl then pointed to Tiky who merely shrugged.

"You guys know I'm not good with thinking on my feet!"

"You're not good with thinking on your ass either," Toni commented and then looked in Kierra's direction, "And you! What the hell was that? Were you really about to tell them we had a beybattle today?"

Kierra shrugged as well, "Why not? We're friends with them right?"

"That doesn't matter! We can't tell them about that Kierra. It's not exactly a legit organization,"

"Well we wouldn't have to do it if bey parts weren't so expensive!" Tiky whined then began pouting, "I don't like keeping secrets..."

"That's because you can't. It's a miracle you've kept this one so long," Toni sighed heavily as she leaned back into the cushions of the couch and sighed. She rubbed her temples as she began contemplating everything that had happened since they moved to the neighbourhood.

She understood completely as to why the girls would want to tell the Blade breakers what they did, not to mention gloat a little bit on just how bad ass they were in the underground beyblading world but that was a definite no.

Not only would J-Dymez kill them all very painfully and make it look like an accident but they'd probably all be arrested for taking part in mass thievery and bey part trafficking. Suddenly taking notice of J-Dymez silence, Toni looked over at their coach and cocked an eyebrow.

"J... what's with the silence?"

The other girls looked at their coach as well. Toni was right; J-Dymes hadn't said much since breakfast which came as a surprise since their secret had almost slipped out, multiple times at that. It was strange that she wasn't cursing them all out for being so foolish.

"J-Dymez... are you okay?" Naomi asked.

J-Dymez finally turned to her teammates and waved them off as she got to her feet. "I think I need a pain killer from Kat. I have a headache. Just get your stuff ready and head out. Our matches are in an hour," and with that she left the room.

The girls sat in silence for a moment as they all stared at the empty living room doorway.

"I don't like this..." Torah said, recapturing everyone's attention with her words.

"Yeah..." Tiky began, "Is it just me or does this armchair need a new cushion?"

The girls all turned to Tiky with puzzled looks.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Toni inquired with annoyance. She merely shook her head as Tiky shrugged and continued on with her complaints about the chair. "Whatever lets just pack up our clothes get our blades and head out..."

The girls nodded as they all stood up and prepared for their beyblade battles. Tiky took it upon herself to call LaLa to tell the Australian and Japanese mix that they were on their way and would be there in half an hour.

* * *

><p>The front door of the Tachibana house swung up and Hilary quickly entered her home. She flung her overnight bag down beside the front door closet, along with her shoes and headed for the kitchen.<p>

Kai on the other hand remained on the porch not exactly sure as of what to do. Hilary just left him there without a word so he assumed that maybe she wasn't saying goodbye. In all honest, Kai had actually never seen Hilary's house so taking the open door as an invite the slate haired beyblader just let himself in and closed the door behind him with his foot.

Kai slipped off his shoes as he began looking around.

The Tachibana house was fairly large and had an overall warm feeling to it. The walls of the foyer were painted a toasty French beige colour.

All the side tables and mirrors of the foyer seemed to be made out of a dark wood that matched the elegance of the main hall perfectly.

Kai walked deeper into the Tachibana home and stopped near the foot of the stairs as he continued to look around. The living room was a deep wine red colour and had a fire place. The furniture was all made out of leather and there was a black metal and glass coffee table in the middle with expensive looking ornaments on it.

Kai then averted his gaze to the other side and saw what appeared to be another living room but this one looked less intimidating than the other. It was painted a very pale green. The furniture looked inviting and were made out of simple but appealing tan coloured fabric.

As Kai leaned forward slightly to see more of the room, he noticed a big screen T.V. that looked about ready to be mounted up on the wall, even though it was sitting on a stand. The tools to mount the television to the wall were leaned up against the stand.

As big of a pain in the ass Hilary's mom seemed to be, Kai could admit the woman had style.

Just as Kai was about to head past the staircase towards the kitchen where he saw Hilary head off in, the brunette suddenly appeared in the pale green family room.

She jumped at the sight of him and placed a hand over her heart to emphasize on just how much she wasn't expecting him to be standing there.

"Oh. I thought you left!" Hilary said as she walked over to the tall half Russian.

"You just left without saying goodbye and you left the door open so I assumed I was being invited in," Kai remarked as his eyes continued to scan the place, stopping at the enormous chandelier hanging above them.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to leave you out there, I just thought you were going to leave..."

"Hn..." was all Kai said as he began roaming around the place, becoming suddenly interested in everything.

Hilary watched as Kai wandered about but she smiled. He reminded her of a wide eyed kid in a toy store, not exactly sure if he was allowed to touch anything or not.

"Would you like a tour?" Hilary offered, causing Kai to look over his shoulder at her.

The nineteen year old took a moment to answer but he nodded and then began following Hilary around as she played tour guide.

"Well, this is the main hallway, but I'm sure you figured that," she said then headed for the wine red living room. "This is the living room. You know, the ones no one is allowed in except for on special occasions or whatever," they stopped just short of the doorway, allowing Kai to fully assess the room before heading over to the family room on the opposite side.

"This is the T.V. room. Dad just got this new flat screen and wants to hang it up but Mom's not on the wagon with that. Doesn't want it to mess up her walls," Hilary explained as they walked into the room.

Kai gave the television another quick glance before allowing his gaze to make its way around the walls. He noticed that there were a fair amount of family pictures and even though Hilary was still talking and walking, urging the tour forward Kai stopped and took a moment to look at each picture.

Some were fairly old, some were rather new. There were a few pictures of Hilary's parents from when they were teenagers all the way until their current age. There were a lot of Hilary, most of which were of when she was a toddler or an infant.

As Kai kept looking from picture to picture Hilary finally noticed that he was no longer directly behind her and she spun around to see what he was up to. As she saw him gander at all the pictures on the wall she smiled.

"I know. Embarrassing... all these pictures of when I was a little drooling baby..."

Kai quickly looked at Hilary and shrugged, "I wouldn't know..."

Hilary instantly felt bad about her comment. Tyson and the others had told her a little about Kai's childhood and suddenly remembered that he didn't exactly have a loving family or people that really cared for him like everyone else around him. All Kai really had were the Blade breakers and he usual kept them at arms length.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you,"

Kai shrugged again, "Its fine..."

Hilary allowed Kai a few more moments to look at all the pictures when she suddenly spotted one on the end table near the love seat. Hilary instantly jumped for the seven by four photo and hid it behind her back.

She thought she had been rather foxy in hiding the photo but Kai saw when she lunged for it. He turned to the brunette and cocked his head slightly to his right.

"Well that wasn't suspicious at all," he remarked then returned his head to its natural position. He then out stretched his hand so that Hilary could pass him the picture she was hiding.

"What was suspicious? I didn't do anything," she was trying to play dumb but Kai wasn't having it. He just sent Hilary a sarcastic look and urged her to pass him the picture.

"It honestly can't be as embarrassing as the one of you drooling all over yourself,"

Hilary's cheeks went red as she turned her head away from him, "Oh but it could..." she murmured to herself.

Tired of waiting for her to just hand the picture over, Kai – still curious as to what the photo was of behind Hilary's back – allowed another one of his oh so clever ideas to work its way into his mind.

As swiftly as possible, Kai had made his way over to Hilary, pulled her close and restrained her with one arm as he yanked the picture from her grasp with the other.

Hilary fought and fidgeted to break free and take the picture back but it was already too late. Kai was holding it too far out of her grasp and was looking at it with a cheeky sort of grin on his face.

"Wow... that is embarrassing..." he remarked as he turned the Kodak in Hilary's direction. "Look at those cheeks..."

Hilary groaned and as soon as she was finally able to break free, she swiped the picture from Kai and placed it down on the end table with a noisy smack. The picture was actually of her as a baby lying down on her favourite childhood blanket as naked as the day she was born.

"That wasn't funny," Hilary remarked as she gave Kai an unimpressed glance. She folded her arms and angrily puffed out her cheeks.

Kai merely smirked and placed his hands in his jean pockets as Hilary continued on with the tour. She tried to rush through it all, mostly due to the embarrassment that she had suffered from Kai seeing her most humiliating baby picture but the slate haired teen made her drag everything along as much as possible.

He wasn't doing it to be spiteful; he just didn't like being rushed.

They finally returned to the staircase and Hilary became reluctant to continue. Kai's intense purple gaze looked up the steps to the second floor and he began to wonder if maybe that was where all this so called 'mess' was because during the whole tour of her house, Kai didn't notice one thing that seemed out of place.

"We going upstairs?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and Hilary looked at him as she began to nervously bite her nails.

It took her a moment or two but the brunette sighed and said: "I guess... if you want to, I mean."

Without another word, Kai began making his way up the steps, Hilary in tow.

* * *

><p>The Blade breakers left at the dojo were in the process of fully cleaning up the living room when Daichi's cell phone suddenly went off. The fifteen year old redhead dug into his pocket and as soon as he pulled out his phone and noticed who was calling, he left the room to answer it.<p>

"Hey," he said as he turned the corner, causing his remaining teammates to look at him with curious eyes.

They all exchanged glances as they heard him pacing up and down the hall, trying to keep his conversation as vague as possible.

"Wonder who called," Kenny said as he picked up an empty bag of potato chips and shoved it into the plastic garbage bag Max was holding.

"Shit, me too. Didn't know he had other friends," Tyson commented

Max laughed, "That's mean!"

"It's true, no one can stand him but us, isn't that right Chief?"

Kenny shrugged, "I don't put myself into his personal life but I assume he has more friends than just us. As annoying as you may find Daichi a few people think he's rather likeable,"

"Are they retarded?"

Just as Tyson finished commenting on Daichi's possible league of unknown friends the redhead returned to the living room and announced that he had to head out.

"What? Where the hell are you going? You have to help clean up!" Tyson exclaimed as he stared at the energetic redhead.

"I just gotta go, alright! I'll be back soon."

Tyson was about to start griping about Daichi's sudden need to leave when a sort of respect filled grin came across his face.

"Meeting a girl?"

Daichi went abnormally still as Tyson said this. It took the redhead a few moments to gather up what to say but he narrowed his eyes and took a defensive stance like how he usually did when Tyson was sticking his nose too far in his business.

"Butt out Tyson!"

"Hey! I was just asking a question. What? This chick a total dog or something?"

"No!"

"HA! So it _is_ a girl!"

"I- But- I- DAMN IT!"

"Tyson," Ray spoke, deciding to save Daichi from further interrogation and embarrassment, "Leave the kid alone. It won't take long for us to clean this all up just let him go,"

"Yeah!" Daichi chimed in, "Just because you can't get a date doesn't mean I can't,"

"Why you little-" Tyson was about to jump and choke the living daylights out of Daichi but Max and Ray held him back.

Daichi was ready to jump out of harms way but as soon as he saw that Tyson was being restrained, the redhead stuck his tongue out and pulled on his lower eyelid with his finger just before he headed to the door and slipped on his shoes. In seconds, Daichi was gone.

"Ass monkey!" Tyson yelled as he heard the door being shut. As soon as Max and Ray let him go, Tyson straightened himself up and sent his two friends a glare. "Why'd you let the little monkey go? It's not fair that we have to do all the work... matter of fact, where's Kai? Hilary doesn't live that far!"

"Just let it go Tyson. Maybe Kai's stuck in traffic or something," Ray remarked with a shrug as he and Max continued on with cleaning the living room with Kenny.

Tyson sent the Chinese blader a look of puzzlement that was soon replaced with one of questioning, "Do you know something that we don't?"

Ray paused as he looked up at Tyson, Ray wasn't sure if he had given anything away or not but he was going to play dumb anyway "No... Why?"

Tyson stared at him, still with that questioning look on his face but he let it go, "Whatever... but when Kai comes back I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind,"

"You sure? You got so few pieces left," Max joked, causing Tyson to punch the blond in the shoulder.

"Aw, shut your trap,"

* * *

><p>As soon as He, Kenny, Tyson and Ray were finished cleaning the living room, Max decided that he'd head out somewhere, maybe to the arcade with Kenny and Tyson. Hiro was lazing about in his room and Ray had just left for his long overdue morning jog as Max went to change.<p>

The blonde went over to his dresser to retrieve himself a fresh set of street clothes, when he spotted one of the neighbours packing a bag through the window. He opened his bedroom window and tried to get Torah's attention by waving his arms about.

Finally taking notice of his effort, Torah looked up and opened her own window.

"What's up, pup?" Torah greeted as she smiled at the blonde.

"Hey," Max greeted back, "Since you guys said you weren't doing anything today, you wanna come to the arcade with me, Kenny and Tyson? I can show you some of my cheat moves on the 'Left for Dead' game,"

Torah's cheery smile instantly faded, "Aw... I want to, but I can't! J is being a total byotch and sending us out for stuff,"

"Oh, well we can come with you if that's okay?"

Torah shook her head, "Sorry Max, can't drag you along on our boredom adventure..."

Max frowned, "Aw, that sucks,"

Torah nodded again but another smile came to her face as an idea hit her, "If we have time later, I wouldn't mind makin' my way over to the arcade to school ya in that game,"

The blonde smiled back, "I'm looking forward to it... oh and by school me, do you mean cry like a little girl when I beat you again?"

Torah pointed a threatening finger at the blonde, "Hey! Touchy subject!"

The two gamers share another smile before saying goodbye once again and closing the windows. Max was grinning from ear to ear when he suddenly noticed Tyson leaning in his doorway.

"God! Is everyone getting a date but me? You're making plans with the chick next door, Daichi out with some random girl and God only knows what Kai and Hilary are up too,"

Max merely laughed as he returned to searching for clothes, "What makes you think Kai and Hilary are doing anything? I don't think they see each other that way,"

"Bah," Tyson snorted, "It doesn't take _this_ long to drop her home. Besides, they'd make the perfect couple; both are a pain in my ass..."

* * *

><p>Daichi made his way to the street corner when he spotted a familiar black Lincoln town car. The redhead walked up to the vehicle and the backdoor instantly swung open with Ming-Ming smiling up at him.<p>

"Sorry for the late notice," the blue haired sixteen year old apologized as she slid over to allow Daichi room to slip inside. "I have a photo shoot on Wednesday so I had to reschedule our date," she gave him an innocent and very apologetic look and Daichi shrugged.

"It's alright. Got me outta doin' chores,"

Ming-Ming giggled and quickly flipped her hair. She signalled for the driver to start up the car as she moved really close to Daichi.

"Guess this worked out for the both of us then," she said in her Queen voice then traced her finger along Daichi's arm to the opposite side of his face. She turned his head so that he was facing her then Ming-Ming placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

Unlike the last time, Daichi wasn't as caught off guard by Ming-Ming's kiss nor did he feel awkward about it. Although they had only been on one date, he had warmed up to the blue haired princess a lot more than he expected to.

To show her how much he was comfortable with her, Daichi placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. After a moment or two Ming-Ming pulled back, looking slightly shocked but very happy.

"Wow..." she breathed as she flipped her hair again, "Now that was something," Ming-Ming then wrapped her arms around Daichi's neck as she went to kiss him again.

The redhead wasn't use to so much affection but he let Ming-Ming do as she pleased. Between each kiss the blue haired girl laid on his lips, Daichi managed to ask where they were heading.

"I was thinking instead of the arcade," She began before laying another kiss on him, "That we could go somewhere special..."

"Special?" he cocked an eyebrow just before she gave him another kiss.

"Don't worry," she said before running her fingers through his hair, "You'll like it,"

* * *

><p>"That's my mom and dad's room, can't go in there. This is the spare room, my bathroom and the one on the end is my room," Hilary said as she tried to wrap up the remainder of her house tour.<p>

Kai glanced at Hilary's parent's room but quickly went to looking at everything else on the second floor. It was as eloquently decorated as the downstairs and had a faint cinnamon like smell to it.

Kai made his way down the hall.

He peered into the spare room, nothing special just a bed, a desk and a dresser. The walls were bare and the room didn't hold his interest so he moved on to the bathroom. It had an amazing glass bowl sink and a marble looking counter but still wasn't as interesting as downstairs.

Then he reached Hilary's room, her door was closed but that didn't stop Kai from being his usual bold self and turning the knob. Hilary caught sight of him opening her door and asked for him not to go in but the door was already open by the time the brunette ran over to him.

"It's a total pigsty in there," she said but once again, it didn't stop Kai from entering the room. The slate haired male cautiously made his way into the brunette's room and much to his surprise it wasn't painted pink like he had expected it to.

Instead it was painted a pretty turquoise colour with simple graphic white flowers stationed in selective places along her wall. Hilary had a queen sized bed stationed against the opposite wall with a large white vanity and dresser directly across from it. On the right side of the room was her closet and on the left were another dresser, an end table and her bedroom window.

Other than the fact that there were a few clothes scattered around the room, Hilary sleeping quarters were cleaner than she gave it credit for. If she wanted to see dirty, she should've just looked in Daichi and Tyson's room. Now _that _was a pigsty.

"Yeah, I really have to clean up in here before Mom gets home. Dad doesn't mind but mom's a total neat freak," Hilary said as she began collecting all of her dirty clothes and piled them near the bottom of her bed.

As she did this, Kai just walked around her room staring at all the little knick knacks that littered her room. There were multicoloured do dads and fuzzy things that he had no idea as to what they were but it all seemed to suit Hilary perfectly.

Kai was looking at everything on her vanity until he noticed a colourful framed picture near the bottom of the vanity mirror, placed on top of a little wooden box. The cold captain picked the photo up and looked at it with a small smile on his face.

It was a picture taken after the last world tournament a few years back. He and Tyson had suffered a sufficient amount of bodily injuries after that tournament but it held good memories... well at least a few good memories.

Just as Kai placed the picture down, he noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the little wooden box. He glanced over his shoulder to see where Hilary was and as soon as he noticed her straightening up her bed, the face painted male quickly pulled at the paper to take a look.

Kai soon noticed that it wasn't just a piece a paper but a picture and not just any picture, but one of him. It was from when they had all gone to the beach last year.

Hilary had gone around taking a picture of almost everything and Kai warned her not to take one of him but she did it anyway. He managed to delete most of them but a few still slipped through the cracks and this was one of them.

Even though he wasn't particularly pleased with the fact that she didn't rid her camera of his presence it was still a pretty good picture. It was a frontal photo but he was staring off somewhere in the distance. He was sitting on a rock somewhere under a few trees and he had one of his hands running through his hair, very modelesque like.

The slate haired blader quickly put the photo back as he heard Hilary rustle directly behind him.

"You want anything? A snack or something? I have you walking around my house and I didn't even offer you anything," Hilary said as she started playing with her fingers.

Kai put his hands back in his pockets, "No. I'm good," he stated then took a seat on the edge of her bed. There was a long moment of silence before Kai looked up at Hilary who was now currently biting her lip as she looked around nervously.

He couldn't pinpoint exactly why she was doing that but obviously Hilary was stressed over something.

"If you need help cleaning up..." he didn't finish his statement, he just left it open for Hilary to devise from it what she wished.

She quickly turned to him with wide eyes. Kai wasn't really acting himself today, first the ride home and now offering to stay and help her clean up? Was there some higher cosmic power shining some light on her fairly dull life or was she dreaming?

Kai was a fairly clean person but even when there were chores to be done around the dojo, he tried to do as little as possible; the fact that he was offering to help her clean up was making Hilary's head spin a little.

"Um... are you sure? I mean don't you have to get back to the dojo with Hiro's car?"

Kai shrugged, "he's not going anywhere."

Hilary smiled at Kai's unintended pun as she began rubbing the back of her neck, "Well... um... thank you. I guess you can help me with the laundry,"

Kai nodded as he managed to get to his feet without removing his hands from his pockets. As Hilary picked her dirty clothes from up off the floor, Kai quickly glanced over at the wooden box before they both left the room.

It hadn't hit him before but now he was really starting to wonder why Hilary had a picture of him in that little box of hers. Maybe Ray hadn't been speaking pure foolishness when he said that maybe Hilary liked him...

* * *

><p>LaLa was swept up in the music she was hearing though her headphones when The Sweet and Sour Candies came running up to her desk.<p>

Torah and Tiky slapped their hands on the table top to catch the short girl's attention.

LaLa removed her headphones and smiled at the girls as she threw open her scheduling binder.

"Just in time! What took so long?"

"Do you know how hard it is to be a ninja in our neighbourhood? Everybody be watchin' like they're the police," Torah exclaimed as she and her teammates tried to catch their breaths.

"Okay, well your battle will start in ten minutes, a few teams dropped out so your battle was bumped up,"

The Sweet and Sour Candies nodded as LaLa sent them to their dressing room. As soon as the girls were in their dressing room, Kat instantly went for the large wooden bench to lie down. Her head was still killing her from last night and it was looking like she wasn't going to be able to battle today.

"You alright Kat?" Toni asked as she handed her teammate another pain killer and a bottle of water.

The black haired blader girl groaned and took Toni's offerings with relish.

"I drank to fucking much," she said as she popped the pill in her mouth and gulped down the water soon after.

"That happens when you're having fun," Tiky smiled as she and the other girls exchanged glances.

"So," Toni began as she placed her hands on her hips, "Who was all up in dat ass when you went to the club. Carrot top or the dude with the Indian dot on his forehead,"

Kat flipped Toni and the others the finger before groaning once again and telling them that last night wasn't any of their business.

"Ooh, someone's being stingy," Tiky said as she lightly elbowed Kierra in the side.

"Can you all just shut the hell up and figure out whose battling today?"

"Well obviously since you got a headache we're gonna have to substitute Naomi for you today. But we can have her battle the last guy just in case you're feeling better,"

Kat shrugged, "Let her battle. She's pretty damn good compared to the slack blader she use to be,"

"Wow... that was a real half assed compliment," Toni teased as she poked at Kat who looked like she was on the verge of falling into a drug induced sleep.

Kat grunted once more then turned over as Tiky began discussing the new battle strategies with her teammates.

Just as the brunette wrapped up the last bit of what she had to say, LaLa popped her head into their dressing room and announced that their battle would be starting in five minutes and that they needed to start making their way up to the battle stadium.

The girls nodded got their blades and started filing out of the room. As they headed for the elevator a couple familiar but unwanted faces caught sight of them and as the girls waited for the elevator to come, they came walking up to them with their usual cocky demeanour.

"Hey," D.J. said as he looked each Sweet and Sour Candy in the face.

The girls all sneered but greeted D.J. back.

"Good luck on your battles today," he said with a acid laced smile. He looked as innocent as anyone could but the girls knew D.J. had something plotting behind that fake smile of his. "Special luck to you babe," he winked as he looked at Torah who made a face as if she was about to throw up.

As soon as the elevator arrived the sienna skinned girl quickly got into the lifting box and urged her teammates to hurry.

As soon as the doors were closed D.J. turned away with his crew and headed for the staircase.

"Why don't you just let her go, man? She's not into you," Jay-Yu commented as he followed closely behind the group leader.

"Oh really? Then why don't you take your own fucking advice and leave her sister alone? Naomi's just not that into you!"

Jay-Yu grunted and just decided to leave the conversation at that as they all headed to up the stairs.

"Any shipments tonight?" D.J. asked as he led the group up the abandoned concrete staircase.

Jay-Yu nodded, "It's headed for downtown Tokyo."

D.J. smirked, "Cool. Let's roll then boys."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Daichi cocked an eyebrow in Ming-Ming's direction then returned his gaze to the run down building before him and back again. The redhead was trying his hardest to grasp the situation but he honestly couldn't see the connection.

He had always known Ming-Ming to be quite the little priss so he had no idea as to why she was bringing him to such an old and broken looking building. As a matter of fact, he wasn't sure how she even knew about a place like this.

Taking notice of Daichi's evident confusion, Ming-Ming just smiled as she linked arms with him then patted his shoulder with reassurance.

"It's not as bad as it looks. Just follow my lead,"

She led him down a flight of cracked concrete stairs to an almost frightening big, metal bolted door. The blue haired blader knocked three times and waited until they heard a bolt lock being undone. A small compartment near the top of the door slid open and all the couple could see were a pair of brown eyes.

"Automatic," Ming-Ming said and suddenly, whoever was behind the door closed the peephole and opened it to allow them entrance.

Daichi – becoming even more confused than before – followed Ming-Ming's lead as she pulled him along a semi light corridor. They turned the corner to another door and once again she said what Daichi figured to be a password.

Once again the bodyguard behind the door opened it and welcomed Ming-Ming in graciously. He looked at Daichi with cautious but threatening eyes.

Daichi was about to snap at the man and ask him what his problem was but Ming-Ming let the bodyguard know that he was with her and he allowed the couple deeper into the building. Since he had no idea as to where he was going or where he was exactly, Daichi felt as if the walk was taking much longer than it really should have. He felt like hours were going by and finally, Ming-Ming led him into a place that seemed very familiar.

The redhead's emerald gaze looked around and he began to feel more comfortable. As run down and grimy as the place looked on the outside, the inside was kept well intact... Daichi soon realized it was a stadium... that's why it probably felt so familiar to him.

He followed Ming-Ming to a somewhat secluded spot and the couple sat down. Daichi looked down into the stadium and noticed that it was almost full. An excited smile instantly came to his face as he turned to Ming-Ming and said:

"This is a Bey Stadium!" the redhead exclaimed causing Ming-Ming to nod.

"Umhmm," she answered as she linked arms with him again, "I told you I'd bring you to a place you'd like,"

Daichi's smile grew wider as he began scanning his surroundings once again, "How did you find this place?"

"My cousins told me about it, they're your neighbours aren't they? I thought you all were very friendly, how come you don't know about this place?"

Daichi cocked an eyebrow as his gaze returned to Ming-Ming. He wanted to ask her as to why he would know about this place but the lights dimmed and he knew a battle was about to start. The redhead sat back and prepared for the show to start.

He was curious about what Ming-Ming had said but he could wait to ask her about it until after the match. He hadn't seen a good one in quite some time and in a place like this, he assumed the battles he was about to see were going to be pretty interesting. Little did he know how interesting everything would get...

A spotlight came to life in the center of the stadium and a short girl with brown hair, wearing a head microphone, an oil stained hoodie, a pair of tattered blue jeans and what looked like black leather combat boots came into view.

As she threw her fist in the air, causing the crowd to roar in cheers and applause, she quickly lowered their hollering as soon as she began speaking.

"Are you all ready to see some action?" her voice was high pitched and squeaky. It sort of reminded Daichi of Ming-Ming's voice, but this girl had a faint foreign accent. The redhead just couldn't quite place it to any specific country.

"We have some amazing battles in store for you guys and today, the crowd's favourite team is playing! Can ya'll tell me who it is?" she spoke again.

The crowd went into another uproar that almost caused Daichi to cover his ears. They're unanimous screaming was too hard for him to understand so he missed who exactly was battling.

The announcer girl put her hand to her ear as she looked around the crowd.

"I don't think I heard y'all! WHO'S BATTLING TODAY?" she asked one more, causing the crowd to shout, this time even louder than before.

Daichi and Ming-Ming nearly jumped as the crowd went wild and yelled the teams name again but like before, he was still unable to make out the name.

"Damn! These guys must be really good!" Daichi said to Ming-Ming, trying to get her to hear him over the screeching fans.

Ming-Ming nodded, "Oh yeah! I never knew they were so popular!" she said as their eyes went back to the girl in the middle of the stadium.

"All right underground beyblade fans! Let's hear it for the most bad ass all girl team to hit the streets! _THE SWEET AND SOUR CANDIES_!"

Everyone in the crowd stood as they continued on with their applause, causing Ming-Ming and Daichi to do the same. Ming-Ming clapped with great enthusiasm while Daichi's eyes went as wide as saucers as he watched the neighbours trot out into the stadium, waving at their fans and even blowing them kisses and 'I love yous'.

He was completely dumbfounded and stunned at first but Daichi joined in the hailing of the group and began cheering for the girls as well.

"No way! Wait until the guys hear about this!"

* * *

><p>Tyson, Kenny and Max were planning to head straight to the Gamers' Stop at the west end of the mall but due to Tyson's grumbling and growling stomach, the three adolescent males took a detour to the food court.<p>

Tyson stuffed the last but of his burger into his mouth and followed it with a large gulp of his soda as the three of them got to their feet to restart their journey.

"I'm serious though," the navy haired champion said as he removed the straw of the soda pop from his lips. "I texted Hiro and he said Kai still isn't back yet,"

Kenny rolled his eyes while Max began to chuckle. During the whole walk to the bus and the ride to the mall, Tyson had been thinking up possible scenarios and reasons as to why Kai had failed to return to the dojo after dropping Hilary off at her house.

His most recent assumption was that he thought that maybe Hilary and Kai were possibly involved in some sort of romantic escapade.

"Tyson," Kenny began as he looked over at his darker skinned friend, "Think logically about it. When have you ever seen Kai or Hilary be even remotely affectionate towards one another?"

Tyson paused to think as he took another gulp of his soda. He finished it and threw away the cup in the nearest trash receptacle. It took him a few more minutes before an example came to his mind.

"Ah! I got it," he said as he snapped his fingers and looked at his short brunette companion, "She always gets him stuff or makes him food!"

"She does that for all of us..."

Tyson snorted as his eyebrows furrowed together, "Not for me!"

"That's because you call her a stray dog," Max laughed as he placed his hands behind his head, "She'd probably be nicer to you if you were nicer to her,"

"Pft. Like that'll happen..."

"Okay back to the matter at hand, just to get it off your chest," Kenny said, "do you have any other evidence about Kai and Hilary possibly having a romantic relationship. I think it's a completely farcical assumption but you evidently don't think so,"

"...I don't know what you said but I think they're together or something,"

"I just said that. I just also happened to have said that I think your idea of Kai and Hilary of possibly being boyfriend and girlfriend is foolish,"

"Okay! What about that time we ran into the Psykicks, when they got all brainwashed? He was the one who grabbed Hilary before she could fall."

"You mean when he saved her from falling to her death? Tyson... that hardly counts as having romantic feelings for someone,"

"Okay fine! What about that time at the beach when she sat with him while we were all eating with each other?"

"You two were fighting. And I specifically remember both of you saying that you'd rather drown than have lunch together,"

"Damn it," Tyson grunted as he tried thinking of other times that he couldn't probably propose as evidence to his claim. After a moment or two, Tyson couldn't think of any other examples and with a frustrated grunt he gave up.

The darker skinned beyblader quickly took his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair before putting the baseball cap back on his head.

"Whatever," Tyson huffed in a defeated voice, "I still think there's something up between those two,"

Kenny rolled his eyes while Max merely shrugged and smiled.

"Its weird but I kinda see Kai and Hilary together, you know?" Max said, causing both Kenny and Tyson to look at him with curious eyes. As soon as the blonde caught the looks his two friends were giving him, he went on to explain himself, "They look cute together. You know... but I think Tyson might be on to something about when Hilary makes us stuff... she always pays special attention to Kai,"

"Ha," Tyson smirked as he went over Kenny's head to give Max a high five.

Kenny rolled his eyes again, "That doesn't mean that they're in a relationship, it could just as easily mean that maybe Hilary has feelings for Kai,"

"... You know that makes a lot more sense! I do remember Hilary saying something about how she thought Kai was cute,"

"Still, that isn't enough to just accuse them of being romantically involved,"

"You have a point there," Max said as he removed his hands from behind his head and placed them into his pockets, "It may just be a one sided thing. Maybe Hilary likes Kai but Kai doesn't feel the same way,"

Tyson merely shrugged as he suddenly turned the corner and walked towards a pair of escalators. Max and Kenny followed. They made their way onto the 'up' escalator and Tyson leaned against the moving rails to look down at his two friends.

"Don't see why she decided to like such an antisocial jerk like Kai. I mean, the guy barely talks, he never does anything fun like the rest of us. What does she see in him?"

Max shrugged while Kenny groaned, he just wanted to be done with the conversation. He was never one to pry in other people's personal business and he knew if Tyson got any bright ideas to pry into Kai's personal life, Max would probably follow along in any foolish antics Tyson would think up, causing them all to get in trouble.

In all honesty, as much as he respected Kai, there was no denying that Kenny did fear the half Russian male a little bit.

"Why are you thinking about this so much?" Max asked as he removed his hands from his pockets and folded his arms. He cocked a suspicious but playful eyebrow at his friend before asking; "Do you have some sort of crush on Hilary,"

Tyson turned to Max and looked at the blonde as if he had said something overly offensive. The blue haired beyblade champ stared at Max for a moment or two then quickly shook his head as they got off the escalator.

"Are you _insane_? I'm _not_ interested in Hilary... but I'm curious though..."

"About...?"

"Kai. If Hilary likes him, how does he really feel about her?"

"Hmm... that is something to be curious about,"

"Ugh," Kenny had had enough. The short brunette ruffled his hair in a very annoyed manner before asking his two friends if they could all talk about something else. He also told the two that he didn't want to pry any further into the matter and that if there was anything going on between the two alleged parties that they would tell them something.

If they didn't want, whatever they were up too, to be a secret or not, that was their business and not Tyson or Max's.

"Fine," Tyson spat in a somewhat annoyed tone, but a smirk quickly came to his face as another topic, pertaining to the last one suddenly came to mind, "Let's talk about the sleepover and how you and some of the girls were all cozy,"

Kenny's face instantly went beet red. He was beginning to regret ever saying anything.

"C-cozy? W-what do you mean?"

"I mean how you and Torah were talking every so often. You did it with Kierra and Tiky too,"

If it were possible, Kenny's cheeks became even redder and he had to take off his glasses to do away with the faint fogging that his embarrassment was causing.

"I don't know what you mean," Kenny said as he rubbed the glasses in his short until they were clear again, he then placed them back onto his face. The glasses wearing brunette decided that he was going to play dumb. Maybe Tyson would just give up if he pretended to not know what he was talking about.

It was true, that he did chat with Torah, Kierra and Tiky every so often last night but the only thing they ever discussed was beyblading. Nothing more... he had first planned on telling Tyson that that was all he had talked about with them but he knew his friend. Tyson was going to make a big deal out of nothing, just like he had over the fact that Kai still hadn't arrived back to the dojo.

"Whatever Chief, besides... Torah's Max's girl,"

Max's pretty blue eyes went wide briefly before he turned to Tyson. For a moment, all he could do was stare at the navy haired male with a stunned expression but the freckled face blonde began to chuckle.

"Where'd that come from!" Max asked.

"Oh come on, don't even act like you weren't into her. I mean, I don't blame you dude, the chick's got some massive... assets,"

Max just began to laugh again as Kenny shook his head.

"Leave it to you to base attraction on how someone looks. I'm not saying he does but Max may like Torah for more than just her chest size,"

Tyson glance down at Kenny from the corner of his eyes. "...You saw them though didn't you? I mean... they are kinda hard to miss. Tiky's too,"

"Gah, there's no talking to you,"

"And what about you, Tyson?" Max began, shifting the conversation towards his blue haired friend. It was time the accusing teen got a taste of his own medicine, "I saw it from the beginning. You and Toni seemed to be getting along,"

Tyson paused for a moment. He looked ahead of him and realized that they had finally reached the arcade but before he stepped into the dimly lit but noisy play place he turned to Max and Kenny.

"I don't know about her. I mean, I'd totally hit that but... it's weird,"

"Weird?" the two other males inquired then exchanged glances.

"It's like I'm getting mixed signals. Like, I kiss her, she kisses me back then she slaps me. She flirts with me, I flirt back then she calls me a total pig. I just don't get her,"

"Maybe it's because you're moving too fast for her. I mean, you guys only did just meet. I think she likes you but she doesn't know how to react to her feelings. Toni's a strong willed person and you're... you... you don't seem like the type of person she'd be into but she is into you and maybe that scares her. Also, you want to get in too quick. Toni's the type to keep her distance..."

Everything that had been said seemed to make sense to Tyson but the fact that it came out of Max's mouth instead of Kenny's was what caught him off guard. Both he and Kenny exchanged quick glances before turning to look at Max once again.

"Dude... have you been watching daytime T.V. again?"

"You know what I mean!" The blonde laughed as he shoved Tyson in the shoulder.

"No really dude, you sounded like a total chick," The navy haired boy joked as he led the way to the arcade change and prize desk.

The three males quickly exchanged their money for tokens and walked over to the racing games. Just before picking which stations they were going to race in Tyson turned to Kenny and Max.

"I wanna know what's up with Hilary and Kai. It's got me really wondering if a guy like him could be into her. I also wanna get to know the girls a bit. You know, and I'm not just saying that because I'd totally bang 'em all... I would but that's not the point... Except Kat... she's a bitch,"

Max and Kenny couldn't help but laugh at Tyson's comment as they put the Gamers' Stop tokens into the racing game they were about to play and mounted their vehicles.

"I'm sure Kat wouldn't sleep with you either," Kenny remarked.

* * *

><p>Daichi sat back in his seat utterly stunned. He knew Toni has skill but he didn't know all of his neighbours who beyblade were probably one of the most popular underground beyblading team to hit the streets of Tokyo.<p>

Sure the girls were better than most, but compared to some of the people he and his teammates battled, they'd stack up as being average. What he thought, that really made them popular was the fact that they were an all girls group that were quickly taking the beyblade underground by storm.

The last battle had just ended and intermission was just about to start when the green eyed redhead turned to Ming-Ming and tapped her on the shoulder.

Ming-Ming turned to Daichi and tilted her head slightly to ask him what was wrong.

"Did you know your cousins could beyblade?"

Ming-Ming laughed as if Daichi had said something idiotic. The blue haired sixteen year old cupped her hands around his face and gave his head a light and playful shake.

"Of course," she cooed just before pulling him in to kiss him on the lips.

Daichi's eyebrows furrowed together in irritation. He was okay with the constant lip action but at that particular moment he just wanted answers, not to be smothered with affection.

"Did you know that they were doing all this?" he asked as he took hold of Ming-Ming's hands and pulled them away from his face.

For a moment, all Ming-Ming did was stare at him. She let her honey coloured eyes look him once over to see where the situation was going. His body language seemed twitchy and slight aggressive but as soon as she saw the burning curiosity in his eyes she knew what he wanted to know.

"Always so inquisitive and passionate," she said, her queen voice rearing. Daichi released his hold on Ming-Ming's wrists and she cautiously wrapped her arms around his neck, "How about I take you to see them? You can ask all the questions you want,"

The fiery inquiry in Daichi's eyes turned into a mellower sort of questioning glow. The redhead agreed and both he and Ming-Ming got to their feet.

The taffy brown skinned girl quickly lead Daichi back down the corridor they had entered the stadium through. She walked him through the crowds and around the corner to another one of those bolted security doors.

She knocked, and was greeted by the heated gaze of another bodyguard.

"Ripcord," she said and the bodyguard opened the door for them.

They walked down the hall until they reached a pair of elevators. Ming-Ming quickly pressed the down button and the couple waited for their transportation to arrive.

"You've been here before?" Daichi questioned, looking at Ming-Ming with complete astonishment. Ming-Ming looked over at Daichi, smiled then shook her head no.

"Naomi told me about it. She invited me to come and see her and her team blade. I'm kinda pleased she did... you see... since I started becoming famous I sort of lost touch with my family... I always blew them off for one thing or another and they all started to believe I was a snob... but Naomi always found some way to talk to me. She never turned her back on me... I know Torah had her doubts but Naomi always convinced her to at least say hi to me,"

Daichi wasn't expecting Ming-Ming to give him a whole story but due to his almost overwhelming curiosity, he allowed Ming-Ming to speak without any interruptions or questions.

"When I found out I could be closer to my family, I tried my best to get them to talk to me. I was the one who bought them the house beside yours... and I was glad that it was your team's neighbourhood that they moved in. I really wanted to get close to you but then I got so swamped with work and I didn't have the time. As soon as I found some time I thought of everything to get you to go to the Centre with me. Originally I did want to reconnect with my family but I sort of already had a slight connection through Naomi, so I just decided on working on getting you to like me,"

The elevator arrived just as soon as Ming-Ming had finished her speech. The two pubescent teens got into the metal box and Ming-Ming pressed the button to their destination. The ride down to the old stadiums basement was silent and seemed to take longer than it should have.

As the elevator reached where they needed to go, Daichi turned to look at Ming-Ming as he walked along side the blue haired pop star out of the lift.

"Uh... Ming-Ming?" he managed to finally speak.

Ming-Ming turned to look at him with relief written all over her face. She was beginning to think the awkward silence that had fallen over them was because of her sudden confession. She had thought about telling him earlier but she didn't know how he was going to take it. In fact, her sudden confession just sort of slipped out and as soon as he had gone silent she instantly regretted her choice in telling him.

"It's cool that you like me and..."

His voice trailed off and her honey eyes went wide but she let her facial expression fall into an emotionless sort of mask. On the inside, she could feel her stomach knot up as the feeling of anxiety came bubbling to the surface. What was he going to say? Was he going to tell her that he wasn't interested?

She pushed that thought to the back of her head as anger suddenly took over. There was no way that was the case. Not after how hard she worked into getting him to start seeing her for who she was and not what BEGA made her.

"And, maybe you really aren't the ditz I thought you were,"

Not exactly the choice of words she wanted to hear but it put a smile on her face none the less. Her feelings of anger quickly subsided as she led him down the hall towards the team change rooms.

"Thanks... I think," she said as she suddenly began strutting the rest of their journey instead of merely walking.

Daichi caught Ming-Ming's unanticipated new stride and had to admit that he did like the way she was carry herself at the moment. Her confidence was radiating off of her like a light from a flame and he suddenly felt the urge to touch her...

Swiftly, Daichi interlocked his fingers with Ming-Ming's and began holding her hand. When she looked down to see what was gripping her, Ming-Ming's eyes quickly averted upwards towards Daichi. His emerald green orbs and her honey coloured ones locked and she sent him a warm grin while Daichi sent her a half smile.

Feelings and adorations of the heart were never something he was good at but like he always said. He was a man of instinct and his instincts were telling him that maybe, just maybe, he could see his relationship with Ming-Ming heading off to be more than just friends with benefits.

After a short walk, Ming-Ming had finally brought them to their destination. She quickly knocked on the changing room door before pushing it opening and cautiously making her way inside.

"Hope everyone's decent," she said as she let go of Daichi's hand and came into the Sweet and Sour Candies full view.

The girls all turned to her with curious eyes but Naomi's face instantly lit up at the sight of her little cousin. The dark skinned West Indian girl ran over to her relative and the two girls shared a hug.

"You came! I didn't think you'd come," Naomi exclaimed as she pulled back, "You're always so busy,"

"I Know, but I promised my big cousin I'd come,"

Ming-Ming and Naomi smiled at each other before they shared another hug.

The other S.A.S.C members exchanged slightly confused glances, some exchanged glances of discontent.

When the two family members pulled apart, Ming-Ming looked around the room at the staring faces. She could see them all looking at her, silently asking what she was doing here but the young teenagers smiled anyway and out stretched her arms, seeking hugs.

"What? No hellos?"

There was a short moment of pause before Kierra and Tiky got to their feet, all smiles, and went over to greet the short girl. Torah soon followed but she didn't hug Ming-Ming immediately.

The chesty girl stood in front of her cousin and looked her up and down. The two of them just stared at each other for a while before Torah let a smile spread across her face.

"What it do cuz?" she greeted and Ming-Ming pulled Torah into a tight squeeze.

"Aww, I missed you!" the brown skinned beyblading pop singer squealed as she pulled away from Torah. She then looked past her family member towards the two other girls over at the far end of the change room.

Kat was still lying on the bench while Toni was sitting adjacent to the paler girl's head. Toni and Kat looked over at Ming-Ming who just stood in place, not sure as of what to do.

She never really got along with Toni or Kat so she wasn't sure if she should walk over and greet them or just stay where she was and let them greet her.

The awkwardness and tension in the room was building and it was starting to get a little unbearable. Ming-Ming was about to just cave and say hi to the two hard shelled beybladers until Tiky suddenly went;

"Daichi?"

Ming-Ming spun on her heels and all the girls turned to look at the redhead that came into their view. The fifteen year old waved hello and said: "Sup guys?"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As the fifteen year old redhead walked deeper into the Sweet and Sour Candies change room an almost eerie silence fell over everyone in the room.

At first, Daichi was rather excited and pleased to see his neighbours but now he wasn't too sure. There was a lot of tension in the air and it was almost stifling.

Just as Daichi was about to say something, Toni instantly got to her feet and her pretty forest green eyes began staring daggers towards Ming-Ming. In long heated strides, Toni walked her way over to the youthful couple. Her heels clicked heavily against the tiled change room floor from rage.

"I don't fucking believe this," the short Guyanese girl snapped, stopping only a foot or two away from Daichi and Ming-Ming. "What the hell are you even doing here?" her angry gaze looked from Ming-Ming to Daichi and back again and for a moment, neither teen knew what to say or even how to respond.

"Toni, wait! It's my fault," Naomi's timid voiced piped as she walked up beside the slightly frightened couple, "I invited Ming-Ming, don't be upset with her...please..."

Toni looked over at Naomi and instantly silenced her with a glance. She returned her gaze to Ming-Ming and the blue haired pop star held her breath. Ming-Ming knew that this wasn't going to turn out well. She knew that when Toni got like this, all hell had to pay.

The two short, dark skinned beybladers stared at each other for what seemed like hours until Toni suddenly narrowed her eyes.

"I can't hold it against Naomi for inviting you. You're her and Torah's cousin... you're their family and by slight extension our family but I know bloody _fucking_ well that you were told not to bring someone with you..."

"T-Toni..." Naomi spoke again, causing everyone's eyes to focus on her. The panic-stricken Bajan/Jamaican began fiddling with her fingers and biting her lip as she stepped forward and admitted that she, in fact, did _not_ tell her younger cousin that bringing someone along was prohibited due to the pact the girls had all made.

For a moment, no one moved and everyone tried to keep their breathing as quiet as possible but this proposed to be quite difficult for Toni. The fury about to erupt from her was overwhelming and Naomi began to flinch even before Toni began speaking to her.

The green eyed Sweet and Sour Candies captain was about to unleash all of her anger when she suddenly stopped herself. Toni took a deep breath and closed her eyes so that she could compose herself. As soon as she did, she opened her eyes and shook her head.

"Careless... That's all I really gotta say... careless. What made you even think it was a good idea to invite Ming-Ming anyway? A nitty gritty down right dirty underground tournament isn't this little pop princess' thing," Toni sent Ming-Ming a stingy look as she said this, "There's a reason we don't tell people what we do because we can get charged, you could even do time Naomi... what part of that don't you understand?"

"Now hold on Toni!" Torah barked as she stepped up to take her sister's defence. She had had enough with the situation. Torah knew that Naomi was very family orientated – not that she wasn't herself – but she knew Naomi really wanted Ming-Ming to be part of their lives.

Toni couldn't blame her for that, especially since she herself knew that Naomi was like that.

Sure... the situation they were all currently in posed a problem but it wasn't an unseen event, there was obvious evidence that something like this could happen, the girls just didn't think it would be this soon.

"Don't you dare start talkin' to Naomi like she's a little kid! You know how much family is important to her! You know she wanted Ming-Ming to be in our lives because she didn't think it was fair that everyone just started shunning her because she suddenly came into money. Don't be like that!"

"Torah's right..." Tiky suddenly spoke. Her voice was riddled with fear but she knew that Toni barking at their most timid group member wasn't going to get them anywhere, "Naomi didn't think Ming-Ming was going to actually bring someone, let alone Daichi."

"You two don't have shit to say in the matter! We've been over this! We tell no one about what we do! We already told the Blade breakers too much! We're letting them get too close,"

"That's because you never want anyone getting close to us Toni!"

"Shut up Torah!"

"Don't talk to her like that!" Ming-Ming suddenly snapped, causing absolutely everyone in the change room to look at her.

The matter of the fact was that Ming-Ming was surprised herself about her sudden outburst. She had intended on keeping silent and letting the others fight her battles but everything was being blown way too much out of proportion.

"I-I'm not gonna stand by and let you talk to my cousins like that. Naomi made a mistake and Torah's only sticking up for her because you're attacking her. You know Naomi can't defend herself in situations like this, especially not against you because she respects your authority! If you want someone to yell at Toni, yell at me. _I'm_ the one who brought Daichi here, _I'm_ the one that brought him down here and I know that you'd want nothing more than to just yell at me anyway. You never liked me Toni and just for the record, I don't like you much either! You're mean, you're bitter and you're just a down right BITCH!"

Daichi wasn't sure what was going on anymore but he suddenly felt light headed and very weak. He was able to troop it out to continue standing upright but he felt like something serious was about to go down.

"BUTT OUT MING-MING!" Toni snapped as she stepped closer to the blue haired beyblading star. "You're right I don't like you but that's not important right now, what is important is the fact that we now have not only one but two of you that shouldn't even be here! Having too many people on the outside knowing about this could cause a shit load of problems, not just for us but a lot of people,"

"I won't tell 'em," Daichi suddenly decided to chime in, "My team, I won't tell them if that's what your scared of,"

Toni as well as the other Sweet and Sour Candies turned to look at the redhead as he spoke. He and Ming-Ming had been holding hands the whole time but to show his support for her, Daichi lightly squeezed her hand and he continued on with what he had to say.

"I won't tell 'em anything. I'll keep everything to myself. I won't tell 'em about the tournament, or anything,"

Toni paused as she pulled back and looked Daichi over once with a suspicious glance, "What's the catch?"

Daichi sent his neighbour a half smile just before shaking his head, "No catch. All I want is for you to stop bad mouthing Ming-Ming,"

Toni cocked an eyebrow and was about to ask Daichi what he and Ming-Ming's relationship was but her question was answered when Ming-Ming turned to Daichi, all bright eyed and smitten. The short blue haired pop star let out a thrilled squeak just before releasing Daichi's hand. She cupped his face and pulled his face close to hers so that she could passionately kiss him.

"The fuck?" Kat breathed as she sat up with wide stony blue eyes. None of them had seen that coming...

* * *

><p>J-Dymez was in her room, pacing and running her fingers feverishly through her dark brown locks when she heard the doorbell go off.<p>

She knew who it was – who was at the door – and honestly, she felt a pinch of contentment that she didn't have to make her way back over to the Blade breakers dojo since the person she needed to speak with was already at her door.

The light skinned Jamaican female made her way down the steps, into the foyer and towards the door. She unlocked the door and without hesitation she opened it and stated blatantly that she and the person at the door need to speak with one another.

Hiro was caught slightly off guard by J-Dymez forwardness but he knew she couldn't have been more right. J-Dymez stepped aside to allow him entry to her household and as soon as Hiro was finish removing his shoe, he turned to her with a stern but concerned look on his face.

"I didn't think this was serious but I have a feeling that you didn't tell me the whole story…"

J-Dymez was about to state that it was bad enough that she had told him anything at all but she paused. She'd given Hiro enough information to satisfy most people's curiosity and to confirm some of the assumptions he had had about her and her team but how did he know she'd only given him part of the story.

For a moment there was only silence between them, until J-Dymez walked a heated path around Hiro and murmured angrily to herself that he was too clever for his own good.

She made her way to the kitchen and Hiro followed behind her still waiting for a response. Noticing that J-Dymez wasn't planning on saying anything anytime soon, Hiro brought the topic forward once more.

"J… There's more to the story isn't there? You're not just some regular beybladers battling for parts are you?" Hiro spoke in a very mellow and slow tone that held a glint of hope that maybe whatever he was suspecting wasn't true.

J-Dymez remained silent as she pulled a chair up from under the kitchen table and sat down. She prompted her elbows up on the tabletop and began running her hands down her face. There was no turning back now. He already knew too much, what was the point in even keeping the rest from him? Especially if he knew that there were still bits and pieces that she was keeping from him?

Hiro was persistent and she knew that if she didn't tell him what he wanted to know he'd find out one way or another.

As Hiro took the seat across from her, J-Dymez looked up at him. She could see the concern and longing for knowledge written all over his face and she grunted with frustration. She knew the girls were not going to be pleased when she had to tell them about this later.

"No." She began. "I didn't give you the whole story but before I do tell you anything else, you need to understand that the girls and I aren't like you or your team. We come from the streets and respect is important to us. We have a lot of pride and we pride ourselves in winning the most battles and having some of the toughest beyblades around..."

As soon as J-Dymez had finished her statement Hiro felt a small wave of panic wash over him but with a deep breath he regained his composure before he could lose it.

"Janielle, please don't tell me your team has something to do with all those bey parts that have been stolen,"

J-Dymez sighed and wanted to look away from him but she decided against it. That would just look suspicious and she really wasn't in the mood for any incriminating questions.

"I can't say that they haven't crossed our path..."

Hiro exhaled harshly and turned to focus his gaze elsewhere. Sure he had wanted to know all this but now that he did, he began wishing that he'd just kept his nose out of it.

"Janielle..."

"Don't use that tone with me! Don't you _dare_ use that disappointed tone with me," J-Dymez suddenly snapped. She was on her feet in seconds and had her spread out on the tabletop in a very defensive manner. "I told you straight. We come from the streets okay. We do what we gotta do to keep us at number one. I'm not sayin' that what we do it legit but I swear to God Hiro, if you or anyone on your team ruins this for the girls, I'll go straight hood on you and take you to Chinatown and buss you in the head with a lead pipe,"

Hiro wanted to tell J-Dymez that street credibility and respect wasn't a good enough reason and that what they were into could possibly send them all to jail for a fair amount of reasons but...at the moment, he kind of wanted to... laugh.

He hadn't expected J-Dymez to lash out at him like that, let alone threaten his life by saying she'd buss his head open with a lead pipe. The threat had come out so smoothly that it was almost as funny as it was slightly frightening.

Hiro knew J-Dymez wasn't one to mess with but... he couldn't help it.

A small chuckle escaped and she sent him a question look.

"Did you just say you'd take me down to Chinatown and buss me in the head with a lead pipe? Do you know you're in Japan?"

Another moment of silence past between them and J-Dymez couldn't help but show a slightly embarrassed smile. She hadn't expected herself to say it either but Hiro's response was a bit amusing.

"Shut up okay. I was tryna let you know that I was playin' with you," she stated as she retook her seat. She was trying to sound as stern and stay as hard faced as possible but it really wasn't working.

At least the tension in the air wasn't as overwhelming as it was when Hiro first arrived at the house.

"But seriously J," Hiro began as his chuckling died away, "This is serious. I've heard about the Underground Beyblade circuit. It's managed to keep itself alive for a while now but it's only a matter of time before the police bust in and crack down on all these stolen parts. People are taking them right off the trucks Janielle. There's no way that's going to be tolerated,"

J-Dymez leaned back in her chair and folded her arms as a peeved look etched its way across her pretty features.

"I know but I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like were selling and buying drugs. They're beyblade parts for God sake,"

"That doesn't matter. Its stolen merchandise, its pretty much black marketing..."

"You know, I really regret tellin' you anything. I knew this would happen. I knew you and your mainstream team would look down on my team but after gettin' to know you guys I'd thought you'd be different. I thought you'd all understand. Not everyone can get the high class parts for free like you celebrity athletes. Some of us need to really work for our shit,"

"By stealing?"

"We don't steal it. Just because they were stolen, doesn't mean that's our fault, we battle for the parts and bid on them for the money we earn from our battles,"

"Janielle be rational! This isn't the ghetto; you can't just go around doing stuff like this!"

"SEE!" J-Dymez snapped as she got to her feet once more, "This is why I shouldn't have told your ass nothin'!" with that she began storming out of the kitchen.

"Fine!" Hiro countered as he got to his feet to follow her out, "If you thought I'd be so judgemental about it why'd you tell me in the first place. You could've fed me bullshit and I would've believed you,"

She spun around on her heels suddenly, almost causing Hiro to collide with her.

"I honestly don't fuckin' know why I didn't just lie to you! Really, I don't right now. It's just that..." she trailed off for a moment and Hiro saw her features go soft but only for a moment because that usual scowl she wore returned with a vengeance, "You're ass would've found out anyway. You're too damn nosey for your own good!"

With that she stormed off again, causing Hiro to throw his hands up in frustration.

"Oh my God, you're unbelievable Janielle! This isn't a Hollywood rags to riches story. Not everyone gets what they want from living in a world like that,"

"Biggie and Tupac did it. So can we,"

"... Now I know you didn't just use two dead rappers as a reference! Janielle! I'm trying to give you a reality check!"

The pale bronze skinned woman was making her way up the stairs when she stopped two steps away from the top to look Hiro in the face.

"Why do you even care so much? If you're so damn against it, then go to the police!"

"I'm not going to go to the police. And what the hell do you mean; '_why do you even care?_' of course I care, I..."

She cocked an eyebrow, "You what? At least finish the damn sentence."

For what seemed like hours all J-Dymez and Hiro did was stare at one another. Her maroon eyes locked with his wine red ones. Their heated gazes didn't break until Hiro made his way up to Janielle and suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace just before lightly planting a kiss on her lips.

When he pulled away from her and cupped her face, J-Dymez could only wear a stunned expression.

"I don't know how or why, but I care a lot about you and your team. The guys love your girls and I'd hate to see you guys get in trouble over something stupid like chasing some foolish dream,"

"It-" before J-Dymez could say another word; Hiro gave her another kiss and silenced her.

"I can see this means a lot to you guys so... go on... battle in the underground tournament, just do me a favour okay?"

Hiro's charm was too much for J-Dymez to reject so with a feeble nod she waited for him to tell her what he wanted.

"Promise me that after this you guys will go legit. You don't have to become mainstream but if you do this for me, I could mention you to the BBA..."

J-Dymez stared up at Hiro with slightly clouded eyes but her expression soon changed to one of caution.

"I hate cutting deals with you. That's what got me in this mess in the first place..."

Hiro chuckled but pulled J-Dymez into a tight embrace, "Can you promise me that?"

With a sigh, J-Dymez hugged Hiro back and began nuzzling her face into his chest. "Fine," she said but as she pulled away she gave him a stern look, "I'll do it, but only because you asked me too. Also, if we go legit, we'll make a name for ourselves on our own. You don't have to try a sell a bunch of street kids to your 'professional beyblading company'," she gave professional beyblading company air quotations.

Hiro smirked as he looked down at J-Dymez with a cocked eyebrow, "Now this doesn't seem right. I feel that, at least one of us, should get something physical out of this deal,"

"Fine. I'll let you come to one of our battles,"

"Now you know that's not what I meant,"

"Well that's the best offer you're going to get. Its bad enough our teams think we slept together, you ain't gettin' it that easily," J-Dymez swiftly removed herself from Hiro grasp and strut her way up the rest of the steps and back down the hall towards her room.

Hiro stayed back, with his mouth slightly agape as he watched her slink away, "Oh that's just cold. At least make honest kids out of them!"

* * *

><p>"We're pretty much done," Hilary stated as she looked around her room for any more imperfections. As soon as she noticed that there were none to be seen she turned to Kai and continued on with what she was saying; "The last load of laundry's in the dryer so after we fold those were done for the day,"<p>

"Hn" was Kai's only response. Hilary seemed like they had done an epic amount of cleaning when in all honestly the laundry was really the only chore they had. The slate haired male was beginning to think that maybe Hilary had some form of OCD but he didn't bother saying anything about it.

It was her house after all. She could do what she wanted with it but then again... he paused. It was Hilary's mother that told her to clean up so... maybe she was the one with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and it was rubbing off on Hilary.

"Let's just fold these clothes then we can have a snack or something," The brunette stated then pointed to the basket of clothes on her bed, "That okay with you?"

Kai shrugged, "Been following your orders all day. Not about to rebel or have an opinion now," he then sent her a carefree smirk.

"Oh ha ha," she said as she sent him a sarcastic look. She made her way over to the bed and placed the small hamper onto the floor. She then took its place beside Kai and they began folding. "I'm glad you decided to stay. I really appreciate the help,"

"I'm sure. Because your house was such a pigsty,"

"Sarcasm not appreciated," Hilary laughed as she placed all that she had folded into a small pile beside her. "My mom said to clean so I cleaned,"

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe your mom has OCD?"

Hilary turned to Kai then turned away laughing as she shook her head, "My dad and I thought so but we never looked into it," she giggled as she picked up a towel and began to fold it. "Don't take this the wrong way but... I like you like this-" before Hilary could finish Kai looked at her from the corner of his eye and cocked an eyebrow at her.

"What's _that_ suppose to mean?" he questioned with a curious sort of smirk.

"You didn't let me finish!" Hilary laughed as she picked up something else to fold, "What I meant to say is that I like you how you are now – talkative. You even make jokes; I've never seen you like this at the dojo,"

Kai shrugged, "Guess it depends on the company,"

Hilary felt her body stiffen as a blush came to her cheeks. She wasn't sure why his comment had made her blush but she was sure that his comment was actually an authentic Kai compliment. Those were quite a rare breed to come upon...

"Wow," She said, trying to drive away her sudden need to be fan girlish, "Was that an actual compliment? Two in one day, I feel so special,"

She was referring to back to earlier that morning when they met up at the bathroom and how Kai had stated that he preferred a less tense easy going Hilary compared to a dolled up on the edge Hilary.

"You should, I don't give them out to just anyone,"

"Oh now you're making me blush," she wasn't lying, that much was certain. But although her cheeks were showing signs of pinking, she couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.

She was expecting her alone time with Kai to be fairly awkward and eerily silent but much to her own surprise Kai had actually responded much more than she expected him too. She was shocked that he even took it upon himself to strike up a conversation back when they were first starting the laundry.

The conversation wasn't that significant but it was quite a milestone in Hilary's opinion. She never really saw Kai speak unless directly spoken to... or slightly intoxicated.

"What are you so happy about?" she heard him ask. Hilary snapped out of her train of thought and turned to Kai, and noticed that he was staring at her with slight amusement and curiosity. "Do you always get that happy over a compliment?"

For a moment, all Hilary could do was stare back at him, slightly wide eyed. She mentally kicked herself for not be able to hide her joy better but the look on Kai's face seemed to ease her a little bit. To play off her embarrassment, Hilary shrugged and smiled at the purple eyed nineteen year old.

"There's nothing wrong with taking pride in receiving a compliment,"

In response, Kai rolled his eyes but this made Hilary laugh anyway.

"By the way," Kai said as he reached down to pick something up from out of the hamper, "These are yours to fold,"

Hilary's eyes went as wide as saucer plates as Kai handed her a pair of her black silk underpants with a little red silk bow at the front. The brunette swiftly tore her unmentionables from Kai's hand and threw them onto her folded pile.

At that moment, all Hilary wanted to do was crawl under a rock and cease to exist but to add sarcastic insult to embarrassing injury Kai said, with a straight face: "Silk. Very classy..."

"Oh shut up!"

* * *

><p>As soon as they were done with the cleaning Hilary walked Kai downstairs and to the kitchen for their well deserved snack. The brunette went through the cupboards in order to assemble their snack but as she did she glanced over at Kai and smiled.<p>

"As much as I may have embarrassed myself today... hanging out with you was really fun,"

Kai glanced back at Hilary and shrugged, "You too,"

Hilary smiled as she pulled a box of granola cereal and a small squirt bottle of honey out of the cupboard. She then got a bowl and a spoon then placed them on the counter with the cereal and honey. Hilary the made her way over to her refrigerator and pulled out some blueberry yogurt.

The brown eyed Brunette brought all the ingredients to the table and began mixing it all in the bowl. She started with the granola cereal then the honey and finished it off with the yogurt.

As she used the spoon to mix it all, Kai cocked an eyebrow at her. Noticing his questioning look Hilary pointed the spoon full of her mixed treat at him and told him to try it.

Kai leaned away from the spoon and gave her another questioning look.

"Just open your mouth and try it. You'll like it."

Kai furrowed his eyebrows together but he cautiously opened his mouth anyway. Hilary did have a knack for finding things he enjoyed eating and as much as an odd combination her concoction was, he allowed her to feed it to him.

"So?" Hilary asked as she pulled the now treat-free spoon from Kai's mouth. She got her answer when he looked down into the bowl. The brunette giggled then slide the bowl and spoon over to him. "I'll make myself a new batch. You can have this one,"

Hilary then got to her feet to retrieve another bowl, spoon and a cup of yogurt. As she went through the cupboards and fridge when she noticed the time and stated that Kai had been at her hour for nearly two hours.

"Wow. I'm surprised Hiro hasn't called asking for his car,"

"Hn," Kai shrugged, he was more interested in the treat Hilary had made than talking about Hiro.

"Don't you think it would be a good idea to call him and let him know where you are?"

"Hn,"

"Are you listening to me or are you more interested in the food,"

"Hn,"

"Never mind," Hilary sighed with a smile as she made her way back over to the kitchen table. She sat down to prepare herself the granola-yogurt snack but she couldn't help but look over at Kai from across the table.

This was the friendliest she'd seen him in all the years that she'd know him and in all honestly she didn't want there time together to end but she knew that he'd have to leave sooner or later for two reasons. One; He had to return with Hiro's car to the dojo and Two; if her mother walked in and saw him here she knew she'd get an earful about having a boy over at the house without telling her.

But then again... her mother wouldn't be back home until sometime after six o'clock...

"Um... Kai..."

"Hn,"

"Do you want to... stay over a little longer and watch a movie?"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Kat had been completely caught off guard by Ming-Ming and Daichi's sudden display of affection and she still wore an astonished look on her face while Toni, who was currently sitting beside her, wore a triumphant smirk.

As soon as the young couple had pulled away from one another, they were immediately assaulted with cooing and questions from Naomi, Torah, Kierra and Tiky.

The girls had asked them the usual: How'd it happen? Where was the first date? How long have you been seeing one another and so on and so forth.

Ming-Ming was more than pleased in answering all of their questions and suddenly Daichi went irregularly quiet. Taking notice of the fifteen year old redhead's silence, Torah turned to him and asked him what the matter was.

Daichi was reluctant to answer but that didn't stop Torah from figuring out why he had suddenly gone quiet. Apparently he and Ming-Ming's relationship was supposed to be a secret...

Upon hearing this news, Toni came up with an idea. Although Daichi had promised not to tell his teammates about what he had seen today, Toni wasn't at all satisfied with the fact that their lives could be compromised over the choices of a fifteen year old so she decided to strike up a deal with Daichi.

Toni remembered that Kenny had a very big crush on Ming-Ming and she knew that telling him that she and Daichi were dating would not only devastate him but cause Daichi some serious drama. Not wanting that, Daichi agreed to Toni's black mail in keeping his mouth completely shut about the topic in exchange for her not telling any of the Blade breakers, especially Kenny about he and Ming-Ming's relationship.

Of course this had all been done in secrecy. Toni had actually brought Daichi off to the side to strike this deal with him while Ming-Ming continued answering the other girls' questions.

Soon after, the young couple left to return to their seats and now the Sweet and Sour Candies were preparing for their next match.

"What's with that look?" Kat asked as she glanced at Toni.

Toni briefly glanced back at her friend as a wider smirk spread across her lips. "What look? I'm just happy that's all,"

Kat cocked a curious eyebrow, "About...?"

Toni shook her head, "Nothing special. Just making sure nothing is compromised..."

Kat furrowed her eyebrows together this time as it took her a moment to fully understand what Toni had meant by that.

"Does this have something to do with Daichi?"

Toni quickly looked at her teammates. Noticing that they were too busy discussing strategies with Tiky, Toni quickly informed Kat about her deal with Daichi. As soon as she finished Kat cocked her eyebrow again but smirked.

"Wow... that's cold..."

Toni merely shrugged, "You gotta do what you gotta do to keep yourself safe, right?"

Kat shrugged as well, "I suppose... but don't you think you're kinda being a little... I don't know, defensive?"

"How so?" Although she had tried to hide it, Kat had caught the displeasure in Toni's voice.

The ebony haired female put her hands up in a safeguarding manner to tell Toni to allow her time to explain.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm all about security but I think you and J-Dymez have a bit of a problem. I don't know what the Blade breakers are really capable of in matters like this but I don't think you guys need to be so..." she allowed her voice to trail off since she wasn't sure as of which word to use.

Not to mention the look Toni was giving her was making Kat a little annoyed and slightly frightened at the same time.

"This coming from you? Please," Toni remarked a she quickly got to her feet, "You don't even talk to your family,"

Kat's stony blue eyes narrowed for a moment as she too got to her feet, "Don't go there short shit..."

"Fine..." Toni said as she eyed Kat quickly, "I won't... as long as you don't come at me with that lettin' people in shit. You're just like J and me with that so don't you dare start that holier than thou mess, cool?"

The English descended nymph folded her arms as she and Toni exchange stern stares. Neither of them wanted to back down but it was Kat who broke their heated gazes and shrugged.

"Yeah. Okay... I see your point..."

"I knew you would... You understand," Toni said as she pounded Kat's fist with respect. Her forest green eyes then trailed over to her chatting teammates and the Guyanese girl sighed, "I just don't think they really understand how important the rules are..."

"They're not like us Toni... they prefer to be close to people..."

Just as the team captain and her second-in-command exchanged glances, LaLa cheerfully popped her head into the change room.

"Battle in ten guys," LaLa informed as she held up all her fingers.

Toni and the girls nodded and said that they were ready for their next match. LaLa nodded with a smile then gave them all a thumbs up.

"After this, you'll be in the U.B.T. Good luck." With one last smile, LaLa waved goodbye to the girls and left to return back to her desk.

"Alright then... guess we better head out then..." Kat said, catching everyone's attention.

"But what about you're headache?" Kierra shot back, genuine concern lacing her question.

Kat shrugged, "I'm okay, I'll just wear some ear plugs or something... I'll be fine,"

"Guess that means Naomi can sit out the next battle," Tiky said, turning to the taller lavender eyed girl to her right.

"No," Kat once again caught then attention of everyone in the room, "Naomi battles. Just because she's a wimp doesn't mean the girl can't blade." Her heels clicked a confident path towards the meekest member of their team and Kat rested a supportive hand on Naomi's shoulder. "I've got faith in you, kay?"

For a moment or two, none of the girls spoke. It wasn't until Naomi sent Kat a smile and hugged her.

"Thanks Kat,"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the ebony haired female remarked as she lightly pushed Naomi off of her, "Just win you're match or I'm kickin' your ass,"

As possible as it was that Kat's remark could've been a genuine threat, Naomi continued to smile at her elder Blader anyway and quickly gave her another hug.

"Alright... Is everyone ready then?" Toni asked. As soon as she received a loud cheer from her teammates, the fierce S.A.S.C captain lead the way out of the change room and towards the doorway they would have to exit through to head into their next match.

* * *

><p>As Ray opened the front door to the dojo, he noticed that it was eerily quiet. The Chinese male stepped into the dojo and cocked an eyebrow as he looked around.<p>

"Hiro?"

No answer.

"Kai?"

Again no answer.

"Tyson? Max? Kenny? Is anyone home?"

Still no answer.

Ray slipped off his shoes as he walked deeper into the house, looking around each corner to check and see if any of his teammates were hiding or playing a trick on him.

"Guys, this isn't funny, where are you?" Ray wondered around the house in search of his friends but upon returning to the front door he realized that all of their shoes were missing. He suddenly remembered that Tyson, Max and Kenny had headed out to go to the arcade, Daichi was out doing God only knew what and Kai left to drop Hilary home, leaving Hiro unaccounted for but he assumed that their blue haired coach was probably next door.

The only thing that really made the cat-like teenager wonder was why Kai hadn't been back yet.

Ray took a moment to think about it but he paused.

"No ones home, huh...?" he smirked to himself as he ran into the living room to turn on the sound system then to his room

The music picked up as Ray slid down the hall wearing only a pair of socks, track pants and a pair of sunglasses. He swiftly picked up the television's remote control as the song's lyrics began to play along with the music.

_Lovely Is the Feelin' Now_  
><em>Fever, Temperatures Risin' Now<em>  
><em>Power (Ah Power) Is the Force the Vow<em>  
><em>That Makes It Happen It Asks No Questions Why (Ooh)<em>

_So Get Closer (Closer Now)_  
><em>To My Body Now Just Love Me<em>  
><em>'Til You Don't Know How (Ooh)<em>

Copying the moves from the actual 'Don't Stop till you Get enough' video, Ray went on with belting out the lyrics of the chorus into the remote while doing each swift and smooth dance move.

_Keep On With The Force Don't Stop_  
><em>Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough<em>  
><em>Keep On With The Force Don't Stop<em>  
><em>Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough<em>  
><em>Keep On With The Force Don't Stop<em>  
><em>Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough<em>  
><em>Keep On With The Force Don't Stop<em>  
><em>Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough!<em>

* * *

><p>Kierra and Tiky were giving the girls a pep talk as they prepared to exit into the arena for their next battle. They were about to wish the S.A.S.C. bladers luck when a couple of unwelcome faces appeared through the shadows.<p>

Kierra and Tiky instantly frowned, causing the bladers to look behind them and do the same.

Kat and Toni rolled their eyes as D.J. and a group of his followers came up to wish them luck for the second time that day.

"Good luck out there, babe." D.J. smirked as he drew closer to Torah, who jumped away from him. He had stepped to close and she knew he was about to reach out and touch her in one way or another.

"Yeah... thanks," Torah remarked coldly as she back away into Kat by accident. Instead of pushing Torah out of her way like Kat usually would have done, she instead shifted Torah's position so that she was standing behind her.

The stony eyed girl then looked at Naomi and silently told her to get behind her as well. Without a word, Naomi made her way over to Kat but D.J.'s right hand man; Jay-Yu swiftly caught her by the wrist.

"Heard you're battling today," he said with an acid smile.

"Y-yeah... K-Kat c-can't," There was no hiding the anxiety Naomi was omitting. She felt trapped and looked around her group for someone to save her, but just before Toni stepped up to help the shy individual, Jay-Yu tugged Naomi towards him without warning.

She nearly collided into him but he stopped her from doing so by placing her hand against his chest. He then wrapped his free hand around her waist.

"I bet you'll do fine," he remarked.

Naomi tried backing away but Jay-Yu's grip on her was tighter than she anticipated.

"U-um... T-thank you?" she wasn't sure if that was truly a compliment or not but the matter of the fact was that she wanted nothing more than to get away from him.

"Why don't you back the fuck off," Toni snapped as she pinched Jay-Yu's arm, causing him to release Naomi all together.

As soon as she was free, the lavender eyed doe ran behind Kat and clung to her little sister.

"Easy now," one of the boys standing behind D.J. said. He stepped forward towards Toni but she quickly sent him a glare that stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Touch me, and I'll hit you so hard you'll sneeze through your belly button. Is that clear?"

With that, the male slunk back behind D.J.

"What's the problem Toni?" D.J. inquired, capturing the short green eyed girl's attention. "We're just saying good luck to your team."

"Harassing my girls and saying good luck are two different things D.J. why don't you and your little posse go commit a crime and get shot, huh?"

"Ooh, fiery..." another boy, one with curly brown hair, olive skin and dark eyes remarked with a smirk, "I like that..."

"Eat me,"

"Only if you want me too,"

Instantly, Toni's face took on a look of disgust. She narrowed her eyes at all of the youths in front of her then turned on her heels, making sure that none of them slipped past her to get to any of her teammates.

"BYE GUYS!" one of the boys waved cheerfully, causing D.J. to smack him in the back of the head.

The darker skinned male turned to the boy he just smacked then pointed over his shoulder. "Mike... Shut up and help them bring the boxes in. Jay-Yu and I gotta head upstairs,"

The boy known as Mike pouted and shoved his hands into his pockets. He sadly kicked at the ground as he averted his gaze towards his feet.

"Aw, you guys never bring me upstairs!"

"Just go!"

With a grumble, Mike and the four other unnamed boys turned and retreated back down the corridor they had come down.

Jay-Yu turned, tapped D.J. on the shoulder and told him that they should hurry upstairs for whomever they were meeting would be displeased with their lateness. With a nod, D.J. agreed and followed Jay-Yu back down the hall.

Instead of turning right like Mike and the others had done, Jay- Yu and D.J. turned left and headed for the elevator.

The two males entered the lifting box and Jay-Yu pulled a swipe card out of his pocket. He scanned it against the sensor above the elevator telephone then pressed the number button marked; 6.

As soon as they had reached the sixth floor, D.J. and Jay-Yu walked heated paths down a lush and elegantly designed corridor. They turned a corner and continued walking towards a couple of huge mahogany doors.

Jay-Yu once again brought out his swipe card and ran it over the door's security system. He then pushed open the door. Inside stood two tall and well build men, obviously body guard.

They stood in front of a very large black desk. Behind the desk was a leather high backed office chair. Whoever was sitting in it was facing the opposite side and was staring down through a one way mirror, watching as the Sweet and Sour Candies and the opposing beyblade team entered the arena.

D.J. quickly cleared his throat to get the person sitting in the business chair's attention. The person in the chair spun around slowly and smirked at the two young males.

"Afternoon Deion. Jay-Yu..." the person spoke.

D.J. and Jay-Yu bowed their heads and greeted the person in unison; "Afternoon Chairman..."

The Chairman stood up out of his chair and idly walked around his desk and towards the two youths.

"I trust that you obtained what I sent you boys out for,"

D.J. and Jay-Yu both nodded.

"Yes Sir," they both answered, once again in unison.

The Chairman smirked as gave them both pats on the shoulder, "Good work. How many boxes?"

"Nine, Sir..." D.J. said, answering the Chairman's question.

The Chairman cocked an eyebrow.

"Only nine?"

"Yes Sir," Jay-Yu responded this time, "We were only able to obtain nine boxes because our calculations-"

"Our?"

Jay-Yu paused before continuing, "MY calculations were off..."

"I see..." With that the Chainman walked off and returned to his chair behind the desk. "You may go Deion..."

D.J. nodded then quickly turned on his heels to exit the room. Jay-Yu wanted nothing more than to follow him out but he knew that that wasn't the Chairman's wish.

"Come here Jay-Yu,"

Reluctantly, Jay-Yu walked over to the Chairman's desk.

"Not over there. Over here," the Chairman said.

Jay-Yu walked around the black desk and stood on the Chairman's left side.

"Why do you let him lead?" The Chairman asked as he made a tent with his fingers.

It took Jay-Yu a few moments to answer but he told the Chairman exactly how he felt.

"I'm not the leading type. I'm more of the behind the scenes pulling the strings kind of guy..."

"Hmm," the Chairman huffed with a smirk. He swiftly got to his feet and walked over to the one way mirror.

The battle between the S.A.S.C. and the opposing team was well underway.

"Wise choice... being the brains of the operation..."

"Thank you Sir."

"I wasn't at all finished," the Chairman said sternly, looking over at Jay-Yu from over his shoulder. The room was dimly lit so the main source of light was actually coming from the stadium itself.

The Chairman was a handsome man. He was tall and had a slim build that hid under very refined and distinguished clothing. His hair was jet black and long – reaching just past his shoulder blades – it was all tired back into a tight ponytail. The Chairman was no more than thirty-seven years of age, maybe thirty-eight.

His eyes were dark and calculating and his skin was a very pale shade of yellow-peach but overall, a very handsome mad indeed.

"D.J. isn't at all as smart as you. Neither are those boys that follow the two of you around... why do you allow him to lead? Choose your words carefully..."

Jay-Yu walked up to the Chairman to that they were standing side by side. He looked down into the arena and pointed as accurately as he could towards Torah.

"D.J. wants to impress that one... I let him. I'm not that interested in leadership anyway. It's the well-known leader that always gets caught. Being behind the scenes gives me less of a chance on getting myself into deep trouble,"

At this the Chairman smiled.

"Good looking girl. Very skilled team... They bring in a very large crowd..."

Jay-Yu nodded.

"I trust they'll be making it to the U.B.T."

Jay-Yu nodded once more and the Chairman smirked.

"Now tell me... which one are you trying to impress?"

For a moment, the Japanese youth did nothing but finally he pointed to Naomi and tapped the glass, "The tall one with the black and red hair. She's the sister to the one D.J. is interested. The boys are attracted to the rest of their teammates."

"I didn't ask about the boys..."

"Sorry Sir."

The Chairman gazed down at Jay-Yu from the corner of his eye then back towards the battle below them, "Another pretty girl. Do you plan on making her yours?"

"I'm trying."

The Chairman laughed at this. "You remind me so much of me when I was young," he chuckled as he returned to his seat. The Chairman placed his elbows on the desk top and made a tent with his fingers once again as Jay-Yu made his way back into his sights.

As soon as the Japanese teenager was standing in front of his desk, the Chairman looked at him with cold eyes.

"Whip your boys into shape. Nine Boxes is unacceptable."

"Yes Sir," Jay-Yu bowed his head and turned around to exit the room but just as he reached for the doorknob, the Chairman spoke once more.

"Being behind the scenes is wise with a group like yours but remind Mr. Yoshida that you are the actual leader. Give his ego a little bit of a deflate will you?"

"Yes Sir." With that, Jay-Yu exited the room.

* * *

><p>Kai wasn't at all sure as to why he had agreed to it – to stay at Hilary's house – but since he was already there and extremely comfortable, he was starting to feel that maybe it was probably the best choice at the moment.<p>

Hilary's house was quiet. Kai liked quiet. Hilary's house was clean. Kai liked cleanliness so all in all, a very good idea...

Kai was sitting in the television room with Hilary. He was seated on the couch while Hilary went searching through her wide selection of movies. Kai actually hadn't notice them when Hilary had first given him the tour of her house and he was slightly embarrassed by his failure in noticing something so outright and obvious.

There was a large orange-brown coloured shelf located over by the armchair at the far end of the living room and that was where all of the movies and most of the family photos were.

Kai's dark purple eyes gazed over the selection quickly but paused on Hilary. He couldn't lie to himself. She had also been a reason as to why he decided to stay but it was mostly due to his overwhelming need for the questions blaring in his mind to be answered. He just wasn't sure how he was going to accomplish that...

He wanted to ask Hilary about the picture of him in her room and why she always acted differently around him, hell he wanted to ask her why she was acting differently with him now. She was always submissively quiet in his presence for no apparent reason but now she was laughing and joking with him like she did with the other Blade breakers.

Kai was pretty sure that Hilary had a crush on him but to save them both any possible embarrassment, no matter how small, he wanted to hear the confirmation from her own lips but once again... he had no idea how to do this.

"I have no idea what to watch," Hilary huffed as she looked over her shoulder at Kai. "Maybe you should pick something and then maybe I'll have an idea of what to watch next,"

Kai grunted as he got to his feet. He was hoping Hilary's unnatural powers in figuring out what he liked and disliked extended to what he found entertaining but evidently it didn't.

The silent beyblader walked up behind Hilary and quickly roamed over the titles of the Tachibana's movie selection. A few films caught his interest but most of them were horror movies and even though it was still evidently light outside, he knew Hilary would probably wet herself over his movie choices.

He knew Hilary wasn't a fan of horror movies. She had voiced this once when Tyson forced her into watching one a couple of weeks ago but then again... it had been around ten o'clock in the evening when they all watched that. Maybe she wouldn't mind it since there was still some daylight outside.

Kai reached over Hilary to grab one of the flicks that caught his interest and he felt her shiver slightly as his arm brushed passed her shoulder.

There goes timid Hilary again. Brushing off her reaction, Kai pulled the movie from the shelf then handed it to her. A frown instantly formed on Hilary's face.

"You and my dad are exactly the same," she grumbled as she turned to look at Kai, making sure to back away slightly so that they weren't in a compromising position. "What's with boys and horror movies?"

Kai shrugged as he tried to fight back a smirk that was threatening to appear on his face, "What? Too scared to watch it? It's daytime, what are you so scared of?" he asked and slowly began making his way back towards the couch, "Besides, you told me to pick a movie and I chose that one,"

Hilary looked at the DVD box as Kai seated himself back down onto the couch, "Yeah but... I didn't think you'd pick this one... I mean. I couldn't even watch it when my dad first bought it... I still haven't watched it..." she said, mumbling the last part.

"Oh grow a backbone Tachibana,"

Hilary looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows. She quickly grabbed the cushion on the armchair and flung it at Kai. He only tilted his head to avoid the attack.

"Shut up!" she whined but it was followed by a giggle. Kai wasn't sure if it was a nervous giggle or a flirtatious one. "Can you pick something else?"

"Are you really going to make me get up again to pick yet another horror movie?"

Hilary frowned deeper, "Another horror movie?" she breathed. Hilary looked down at the DVD box in her hand and instantly regretted it. It was one of those typically gore-filled horror films; about a crazed killer going around killing unsuspecting teenagers but Hilary knew she wouldn't be able to handle all the blood and body parts.

"But why this one?" she whined and lightly tossed the box onto the coffee table.

"It's bright outside? Why are you so worried? Besides, I'm right here. It's not like you'll be alone,"

The brunette female's chocolate coloured eyes instantly went to Kai but just as quickly as they were on him, she averted her gaze elsewhere and turned around so that her back was facing him.

Hilary felt her cheeks grow hot and she knew she was beginning to blush. She took a few deep breaths to keep her senses under control and Kai could tell she was struggling with her breathing but instead of thinking it was embarrassment, he assumed it was because of fear.

"If you don't want to watch it that much-" he was about to suggest that they could watch something else but Hilary quickly turned around and waved him off.

"No, no. You're the guest and you picked it so... I guess we'll watch it..."

Kai felt the need to smirk due to his triumph but he knew if he did, Hilary would whine and complain about him making fun of her. To avoid prolonging this movie watching any further, the nineteen year old just sat back and waited for Hilary to pick her movie or at least to put the one he picked into the DVD player.

"If we're going to watch that..." Hilary began as she turned back around to pick her movie. The girly brunette quickly went through the movie titles and pulled out something that Kai instantly knew would be his downfall for the day. Hilary pulled out a movie that was obviously a sappy chick flick and she happily placed it on the coffee table next to the horror movie, "We're watching this after,"

Kai grunted with displeasure but agreed. Maybe if she watched that sappy movie after the horror movie, she wouldn't be as on edge as she was the last time they watched a horror film.

"Okay, I'll put in your dumb movie..." Hilary remarked as she picked up the box, got to her knees and started setting up for the movie.

"You're just a wimp,"

"Shut up or I'll put poison in your popcorn,"

Kai shrugged as he finished watching Hilary put the movie in and turn on the television. As the previews began Hilary went off into the kitchen to prepare the popcorn.

"You better not poison me!" Kai shouted.

"NO PROMISES!" Hilary shouted back.

* * *

><p>Ray was in the middle of sing another song when Tyson, Max and Kenny walked back into the house.<p>

They heard the music coming from the living room but there was no need for them to follow it since Ray was moon-walking his way down the hall, food in hand.

Ray:

_Oh!_  
><em>Do you know what you got into<em>  
><em>Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do<em>  
><em>'Cause it's about to get rough for you<em>  
><em>I'm here For Your Entertainment!<em>

Just as the cat-like male spun around he instantly stopped dead in his tracks and stood there in front of three of his teammates, completely at a loss for words.

"Dude..." Tyson began with a cocked eyebrow, "What the hell are you doing, man?"

It took Ray some time to figure out what to say but in the end the golden eyed boy just furrowed his eyebrows and shifted the sunglasses so that they were sitting on the top of his head.

"Don't judge me..."

And without another word, Ray headed for the living room.

* * *

><p>Songs used in order of appearance:<p>

Don't Stop Till You Get Enough by Michael Jackson

For Your Entertainment by Adam Lambert


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Ray, Tyson, Kenny and Max were sitting in the living room now. Tyson and Max were chuckling loudly while Kenny merely shook his head and Ray quietly ate his snack. The cat-boy was still shirtless but he now had the sunglasses he had on the top of his head, covering his eyes.

He was slightly annoyed and embarrassed by the fact that Tyson and Max had been poking fun at him but in the end Ray just let it slide. In all honesty, if he walked in on any of them doing the same thing, he'd probably laugh too.

"Okay, Okay. Stop laughing at me now!" The long haired male laughed as he tossed tomato slices at Max and Tyson.

"I'm sorry dude, but it was too funny," Tyson said as his chuckling finally came to a rolling halt.

"Yeah..." Max comment, "But that was a sweet moon walk,"

"I know, right?" Ray smirked as he and Max gave each other a high five.

Tyson shook his head then reached for the remote. Although he knew they were probably going to converse with one another, that didn't stop Tyson's overwhelming need to channel surf.

As soon at the television remote control was in his grasp, Tyson flicked on the T.V. and instantly began flipping through channels.

"So... What'd you do all day, other than dance around half naked,"

Ray shot Tyson a stern but joking look, "Nothing. I went out for a jog and thought maybe we should have a barbeque... maybe even invite the girls over again,"

Tyson's navy blue eyebrows furrowed together as Kenny and Max loudly agreed with Ray's engrossing idea. It wasn't that Tyson didn't want to have a food filled party with a group of attractive young females that was furthest from his mind actually. The matter of the fact was that there was one particular female that always put him off.

Tyson's wasn't going to deny it. He knew that there was something between Toni and himself but he wasn't sure what it really was. They always played this annoying push me pull me, cat and mouse game and honestly... he was getting a little sick of it.

Tyson always found himself to be a pretty forward person... mostly because tact wasn't his strong point so playing these games with Toni was causing him a fair a mount of stress. He actually wouldn't mind if she just came out and said she wasn't interested in him. That way he'd be able to get over her and move on, but the fact that she didn't and continued to pull him in then force him back mentally and physically was becoming a little bit exhausting.

As he continued to think about it, Tyson was starting to come to the conclusion that maybe this barbeque wouldn't be such a bad idea. As the thought progressed on, a sort of devilish smirk began to make its way across Tyson's face.

Finally taking notice of the fact that Tyson wasn't actually participating in the conversation, Max turned to his pondering friend and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"What's with that look?" Max asked with smile and curious eyes.

Tyson's smirk grew wider as he turned to his three friends, "I kinda have an idea,"

"Oh boy..." Kenny and Ray remarked in unison.

"Hey! At least let me tell you about it before you go shooting it down!"

With heavy sighs the two friends agreed while Max eagerly awaited for Tyson to voice his idea.

"I was thinking maybe we could play some games,"

Ray cocked an eyebrow as Max and Kenny exchanged glances.

"What sort of games?" Ray pressed on.

Tyson's mischievous grin grew as his mind began to fully wrap itself around what he had plan; "What do you guys think of Spin the bottle and Truth or Dare?"

Ray, Max and Kenny exchanged curious glances briefly before returning to look at Tyson.

"Don't you think those are a little infantile?" Kenny remarked. His cheeks were turning a fair shade of pink but the others didn't seem to notice.

Tyson shrugged, "Hey, it could be a great opportunity to _REALLY_ get to know the girls... if you catch my drift," the darker skinned male wiggled his eyebrows causing Max and Kenny to laugh and Ray to shake his head.

"Why don't you just admit that you're looking for an excuse to make-out with Toni again?" Ray remarked with a grin. That was payback for Tyson making fun of him earlier.

The blue haired beyblading champ frowned but began smirking again as he came back with a rebuttal; "Okay then, why don't you just admit that your into Naomi?"

For a moment Ray said nothing but he finally responded but rolling his eyes, "Why doesn't anyone in this house think that she and I are just friends. I mean, can't a guy and a girl be friends?"

"Yeah but that's kinda hard when you wanna bang your friend,"

"AH! There's no talking to you,"

"Join the club," Kenny said, "He's been like this all day. He even came up with the most ridiculous notion that Kai and Hilary are 'romantically involved'." The short brunette made sure that he put romantically involved in air quotations.

"Hey! I changed it to Hilary having a crush on Kai alright. That's more believable," the red eyed youth commented as he returned to staring aimlessly at the television set.

Although the others couldn't see him do it, Kenny rolled his eyes, "Whatever Tyson. You don't like it when we accuse you and Toni having something so don't accuse others,"

"I do not!"

"Do too," Max laughed.

"Can we not start this again?"

"Who's starting anything? You brought it up," Kenny piped back in, causing Tyson to glare at him.

That when it suddenly hit the eighteen year old.

"Hey... where is Kai. All he had to do was drop the banshee home. Where the hell did he go?"

The other boys went quiet as this sudden realization sunk in.

"Whoa... you're right," Max said.

"Don't jump to conclusions," Ray added, trying to veer the conversation away from its current topic. Tyson's notion had been correct. Ray was almost positive that Hilary had a thing for Kai, and although he wanted ever so much to pry, he knew that things would probably work themselves out between the two. The cat-like teen just thought that maybe everyone should leave them alone... "He could just be hanging around somewhere. Kai'll come back when he feels like it,"

"Yeah but that hardly tells us anything. You know he's not gonna tell us where's he's been all day,"

Ray shrugged, "Just leave it alone,"

"Fine," Tyson snorted with a huff, "While your 'leaving things alone', why don't you go back to denial valley? You know you want-"

"You know what?" Ray snapped, cutting Tyson off as he threw some more food at his blue haired friend. Although it had meant to be a defensive outburst the group of youths couldn't help but laugh.

It probably wasn't the most mature way to step back from the currently conversation topic but at least Ray was able to get Tyson to stop talking about it. The Chinese male then brought the conversation back to party planning. He then said he'd run it by Hiro and they would all see where things would go from there.

"Speaking of Hiro..." Tyson began, "Where the hell is he!"

* * *

><p>When D.J. and Jay-Yu met back up with the rest of their group, they were in the midst of watching the Sweet and Sour Candies' last beybattle. Torah was the last to compete and she was up against a fairly burly guy.<p>

He, as well as his blade, were twice the size of Torah and her beyblade; Theoris but due to Torah and Theoris' endurance and defensive type of battling they were able to win the match with a limited amount of injuries.

The terracotta skinned female throw her hands up in the air as she was announced the winner and that's when D.J. and Jay-Yu stopped just short of their team. Mike and the other boys all turned to face them.

The boy with the curly hair and olive skinned eyed D.J. and Jay-Yu quickly before raising an eyebrow at them. "I'm guessing were in trouble," he said.

D.J. was trying to keep his temper under control over what Jay-Yu had told him after they both had left the top floor but it was become more and more difficult as his mind replayed every word Jay-Yu spoke. At least the pale skinned Japanese boy was courteous enough to leave out the finer details of what the Chairman said about D.J.'s leadership skills.

"You have no idea, Sato..." Jay-Yu sighed as he quickly ran his fingers through his spiked black hair.

The curly haired boy cocked his eyebrow at Jay-Yu again, "Sato? What's with the last name bit?"

"Sato?" Mike asked with inquiry written all over his clueless face, "I thought you're name was Travis!"

The male known as Travis rolled his eyes then slapped Mike in the back of the head, "It is Travis! Sato's my last name you idiot. I just said that!"

"Yeah well, it's better if we use our last names instead of our firsts. There are hundreds of Satos, Yakashimas, Yoshidas and Fujiwaras out there so it helps lessen our chances of being caught,"

"HEY! Fujiwara is my last name!" Mike piped cheerfully, causing the group of males to look at him with confusion as well as annoyance.

"Why do we keep him around?" D.J. snapped through clenched teeth as he glanced at Jay-Yu from the corner of his eyes.

"He's not bright but he's fast. He can also carry at least three boxes of shipments by himself. He's a good asset as long as he doesn't have to think for himself..." Jay-Yu stated in a hushed tone and D.J. scowled but didn't press the matter any further.

"Alright then, _Yakashima_," Travis spoke in a mocking tone as he looked at Jay-Yu, "How much trouble are we in then?"

"Yeah... like... on a scale from 1 to 7, 3 being the highest, what's the rating?" Mike said, causing his team to – once again, look at him with confusion and annoyance.

"Man, shut up!" D.J. snapped. Jay-Yu had to place a hand on D.J. shoulder in order for him to calm down.

"Easy..." Jay-Yu spoke then returned his gaze towards Mike, Travis and the three other boys. "Failure will not be tolerate in the Chairman's eyes so on our next job, we need to make sure were on top of things,"

"What do you mean _we_?" Travis barked, "It was because of _YOUR_ 'miscalculation' that we fucked up on this shipment pick up."

For a moment, Jay-Yu said nothing.

Yes it was true. He even admitted to it that it was because of his mistake that they were unable to fully complete the task given to them but apparently the Chairman wasn't up for placing the blame on a single person. If one member of the unit failed, they all failed and like he stated before, that would not be tolerated.

"Yeah, I know but what the Chairman says, goes and if we mess up again were all in trouble."

"So... this is like... a 12 on the scale?" Mike asked, once again gaining weird looks from his team.

"LET'S JUST GO!" D.J. snapped as he rolled his eyes.

Jay-Yu nodded, "We'll discuss it on the way..."

As soon as Jay-Yu and D.J. turned on their heels, the group of five immediately followed behind them without another word.

* * *

><p>Since the S.A.S.C had no more battles to partake in for the rest of the day. The girls, as well as Daichi and Ming-Ming decided to head out. They all met up once more to say their goodbyes and see you laters before going off in separate directions.<p>

The girls headed for their change room while Ming-Ming and her redheaded boyfriend headed for her jet black town car. As soon as the couple slipped in and closed the door behind them, the driver instantly began to pull out and head for the main road.

Ming-Ming's honey coloured eyes made sure the security window between herself, Daichi and the driver was shut and locked before she turned and quickly ran kisses along Daichi's jaw line.

"Did you have fun today?" she cooed as she cupped his face with her small copper coloured hands.

"Yeah," Daichi breathed as he turned his head so that his lips could meet hers.

"Hmm," she hummed as she rested her head on his shoulder, "I knew you would..."

Daichi shrugged slightly as he wrapped one of his arms around her waist. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Instead, the couple remained silent as they enjoyed each others presence. Daichi began gently fiddling with Ming-Ming's designer t-shirt when a thought suddenly hit her.

She paused to really think about it and she bit her lip as she pondered on whether to mention it or not. She was recalling back to when they were in the change room with the Sweet and Sour Candies. They had tried their best to be discreet about it but Ming-Ming couldn't help but overhear Toni and Daichi's little bargain.

She furrowed her eyebrows together. Daichi had made it pretty clear that he didn't want Toni going to his teammates and telling them about his and Ming-Ming's relationship. Sure, she liked her privacy as much as the next girl but it seemed to bother her. She couldn't understand why Daichi didn't want his closest friends knowing about them.

She thought about it further... it wasn't until their second date that he really opened up to her so she assumed that maybe his hesitant feelings with them becoming girlfriend and boyfriend in the first place had something to do with it.

Ming-Ming quickly averted her gaze upwards and noticed that Daichi was now resting his head atop of hers. His striking emerald green eyes were closed but he had a hint of a grin on his face. Ming-Ming knew he hadn't fallen asleep since he was still fiddling with the edge of her t-shirt.

She smiled to herself. She really didn't want to ruin the moment so she decided that she'd bring it up another time. For the afternoon, it was going to be just the two of them and that was really all she wanted at the moment.  
>-<p>

They stopped off to get a bite too eat. Although they had eaten at the underground bey stadium, Daichi insisted on stopping again to eat. Ming-Ming rolled her eyes but with a smile she complained with Daichi's wishes.

Instead of actually going to sit down in the eatery, Ming-Ming asked her driver to just go through the drive-thru. It meant she wouldn't have to deal with people coming up to them and possibly asking for her autograph like the first time she had brought Daichi out with her.

As soon as Daichi had gotten his order, the redhead immediately began stuffing his face. He was a messy eater. Ming-Ming knew that but it never seemed to disgust her like it did when she first saw him eat. In fact, every time he stopped to take a breather, she would laugh and wipe a little bit of ketchup off of his face.

Daichi would always smirk at her after she did this and continued on with his eating.

"Have you ever thought of taking it slow?" Ming-Ming asked as she shook her head, "I don't want you to choke,"

Daichi shook his head as he swallowed the food in his mouth, "Nah, I'm okay,"

"But seriously Daichi... why are you eating so fast? The food isn't going any where!" she laughed as she watched him take another massive bite out of the burger he was engulfing.

Daichi merely shrugged as he went to swallow the last bite. "It's just how I eat!" he snapped, sounding slightly annoyed with her questions which caught Ming-Ming off guard.

She hadn't expected him to be so defensive but she wasn't about to back down. If Daichi was going to act brash over something foolish, she'd do the same.

"No need to snap at me, I was just asking a question!"

Daichi hadn't meant to sound so defensive but the tone Ming-Ming had used to reply put him back on defensive mode.

"Hey! I don't ask you so many questions while you're eating! I don't know what you're problem is!"

"What my problem is; is that you don't want any of your friends knowing that were together!" she hadn't meant to say that but in all honesty it slipped out.

Daichi paused. He was not at all sure as to what to say next but he was becoming frustrated with the situation. It took him a few good moments to come up with a counterstatement.

"What the hell's that suppose tah mean? You're cousins know! The neighbours know,"

"Yeah but your team doesn't! I heard you and Toni talking!" since the situation had brought them there, why not continue on with the matter... "Why don't you want them to know about us Daichi? Are you ashamed of me?"

"No... not anymore..."

"NOT ANYMORE?"

"IT'S COMPLICATED!"

"How complicated can it be to admit to your friends that your dating me? Oh_,__hey__ guys __guess __what? __You__ know __Ming-Ming,__yeah__ she__'__s __my __girlfriend_! How hard is that?"

"I SAID IT'S COMPLICATED!"

Ming-Ming was about to snap back when there was a loud knock on the security window. The voice was muffled but she heard the driver ask if everything was okay back there.

"EVERYTHING IS FINE!" she growled then returned to staring daggers at Daichi. "My team knows..."

"WHAT? Why the hell would ya tell your team?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because it's a big deal for me!" she threw up her hands just as the driver knocked on the window again. "I SAID EVERYTHING IS FINE, DAMN IT!" she then pulled away from Daichi and much as she could and slunk down into her seat and angrily folded her arms over her chest, "Not like they were listening to me anyway... the only person that really cared was Mystel..."

Daichi accidently let out a sigh of relief.

"If that was a sigh of relief I'm kicking you out of this car right now!"

"UGH!" he grunted as he ran his hands down his face, "Stop being such a girl!"

"What do you mean stop being such a girl? I AM A GIRL!"

"I meant stop acting like a whiny girl! If I don't wanna tell 'em I'm not going to tell 'em!"

"WHY?"

"BECAUSE IT'S NOT THE RIGHT TIME!"

Silence feel between them as the car turned a corner and slowed down at a right light. The cyan-blue haired female and the Venetian red haired male stared at each other with narrowed eyes but finally Daichi broke their gaze to roll his eyes.

"It's not a good time..."

"Why isn't it a good time?"

Daichi grumbled as he tried to think of the proper words to use to describe his situation. At first he didn't want his teammates knowing he and Ming-Ming were involved with one another because he had gone around stating blatantly that he took a disliking to her.

That all changed rather quickly but there was another factor that really prevented him in telling his friends about Ming-Ming and himself.

"Kenny..."

Ming-Ming cocked an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"Kenny! Our blade engineer... he likes you,"

"Ohh..." Ming-Ming said as she came to a sudden realization, "And you don't want to be a bad friend and rub it in his face..."

He didn't say anything but Daichi really didn't need too. Ming-Ming knew what he was going through and she started to feel a little foolish about blowing everything out of proportion.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." she pouted as she turned to Daichi with puppy dog eyes. He glanced at her, not sure how to respond.

"Uh... it's okay..." he said and instantly Ming-Ming jumped at him to wrap her arms around his waist.

"We just had our first fight you know..."

Daichi shivered. If that was their first fight, he was sure as hell any of the ones that came after were going to be ten times worse.

Suddenly Ming-Ming pulled his face to hers as she began to passionately kiss him. As soon as his lips collided with hers Daichi didn't feel as bad. At least the making up would be worth it...

"I'm sorry," Ming-Ming breathed as she pulled back briefly then began kissing him again.

Daichi about to tell her that it wasn't a problem but he was unable to get the words out of his since Ming-Ming immediately began pressing her lips to his as soon as she finished speaking.

It went on like this for awhile. The two of them were heavily lip locking in the back seat when Ming-Ming felt her cell phone go off. At first she tried ignoring the soft melody of her ring tone and the phone's vibration but it soon became annoying to the both of them.

"WHAT?" the miniature pop star snapped as she tore away from Daichi, whipped her phone out of her pocket and answered it.

She listened to what the person on the other line had to say before her Queen voice reared itself again.

"What do you _MEAN_ I _HAVE_ to get back to the studio? I thought you said I was free for the day?"

She paused once more to allow the other person to speak and Daichi watched as an annoyed expression etched its way across her face, "Fine... yeah I'll be there in twenty... Yeah! I was busy!" miffed by the conversation, Ming-Ming just decided to close the phone and end the call as the other person began talking again.

Daichi stared at Ming-Ming for a moment, wide eyed and with his mouth slightly agape. He never, in all the time that he'd known Ming-Ming, expected her to react like that because someone disturbed her time with him. Oddly he found the whole thing to be sexy and slightly flattering at the same time...

Ming-Ming, still irritated by the call from her manager, looked over at Daichi and noticed him starting at her all wide eyed and awestruck. She raised an eyebrow at him as she angrily began nipping at one of her finger nails.

"That... was kinda hot..." Daichi said, causing Ming-Ming's annoyed expression to melt away into a smirk.

She shrugged, "I have different sides to me..."

"No kiddin'..."

Without another word, the couple resumed their previous activity as if the call had never even happened.

* * *

><p>Hilary was sitting eerily still with a throw pillow covering her face. They were well into the movie but Kai was finding it hard to focus on the film since he was too busy watching Hilary. The movie had started just as she arrived back with the popcorn and as soon as she was able to place the large bowl of popped kernels on the coffee table, she immediately jumped on the couch, got a pillow and began hiding.<p>

At first Kai didn't seem to mind but now it was slightly becoming more humorous as the flick progressed on. Every so often, Hilary would look over the pillow towards the television but every time she did, one of the cast members were in the process of being slaughtered, instantly sending the frightened brunette back behind her fluffy safe haven.

"Oh God..." He heard her groan and a chuckle threatened to escape. He didn't want her turning and seeing him laugh at her since she'd probably get all whiney but she was making it extremely difficult. "Oh God, oh God, oh God," she said as she decided to look up past her pillow once more... then the killer on the screen decided to bring his chainsaw to life and that was it for Hilary.

The Japanese brunette screamed at the top of her lungs and accidently threw herself off the couch. Kai watched with slightly wide eyes as this all unfolded and by the end of it, he was finished. There was no fighting back the laughter that was about to break forth.

Kai tried covering his mouth as he began laughing but it was a futile attempt since Hilary turned her head towards him and instantly began frowning.

"Stop laughing at me!" she grunted as she picked up the throw pillow and began swatting him with it, "You. Know. I. Don't. Like. Scary. Movies!" she huffed between each smack she administrated to Kai's person.

"It's not that scary. You're overacting," Kai remarked with a smirk. He was finding her smacking to be quite irritating but he couldn't wipe the smile off his face, so instead he tried to pry the pillow away from her.

"I am not! He just sliced that guy in ha-AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed as her gaze turned to the television. The movie killer was about to hack one of the female cast members into tiny little pieces, which resulted in Hilary bolting up from the floor and right into Kai.

The collision was hard and nearly knocked the wind out of the face painted beyblader but at least her head didn't collide with his face like it had done earlier that day. Hilary wrapped her arms around Kai's torso as she began to whimper into his chest.

"I hate you for this..." she cried and tried burying her face deeper into the fabric of Kai's dark purple t-shirt.

"Once again," he began as he rolled his eyes. Kai took hold on Hilary's arms and lightly pushed her off of him. He helped her seat herself back onto the couch and gave her a stern look, "Overreacting. It's not real, just keep telling yourself that,"

"I wouldn't have to if we just watched my movie," she groaned.

"You wouldn't have to if you weren't such a wimp either but were still going to finish watching this movie,"

Hilary groaned again.

As Kai continued to hold Hilary's arms, he could feel that she was shaking a little bit but it was because she was scared. Although they had been rather amusing, he was tired of dealing with her chicken-hearted behaviour.

Kai released his hold on Hilary arms and just held one arm open to invite her in. At first Hilary wasn't sure what he was doing but as soon as she figured it out she felt her ears going hot. Her cheeks were starting to pink just as she got up close and began snuggling with Kai.

'_God __loves __me..._' Hilary couldn't help but think as she felt Kai wrap a comforting and slightly protective arm around her.

"Stop being a wimp," she heard him order but instead of replying back with a half hearted angry rebuttal Hilary found herself just nodding dumbly.

For a moment they didn't move. The two of them kept bizarrely still. Hilary could feel her heart beat racing but it wasn't because the movie was scaring her. In fact, she was starting to forget about the movie all together.

"You're not shaking anymore..." Kai commented, breaking Hilary out of her trance.

"Huh?" she gaped, looking up at him with curious eyes. He glanced down at her briefly then returned his gaze back towards the television.

"You were shaking..."

"Oh..." she said, not sure of what else to say. As a matter of fact, she wasn't sure of what else to do. Physical contact was a rare thing with Kai but Hilary seemed to be getting a lot of it. It was even more surprising because he didn't even have alcohol in his system.

Hilary suddenly found it hard to breath. She was trying her hardest to catch her breath but for some reason she just couldn't.

Kai looked down at her again and cocked an eyebrow as he noticed her straining.

"You okay Hilary?"

Her ears were ringing, so she didn't hear when he asked if she was alright. Kai sat her up straight and for once in his life he felt a pang of panic pierce through his chest.

"Hilary? Hilary, are you alright?"

The chocolate eyed brunette suddenly felt light headed, not to mention her mouth was dry. She could see Kai staring at her intently, looking slightly unsure as to what to do but he was out of her sight in moments.

This time Hilary began to panic. She didn't know what was wrong with her and she really didn't want to be alone. She wanted to call out to Kai, and beg him to come back but she didn't need too. He was back with a glass of water in moments and he forced her to drink it.

Hilary was reluctant at first but in the end she complied. After a few gulps, Hilary felt her light headedness go away. She was finally able to catch her breath and her throat was no longer dry... obviously.

She was panting now and Kai returned to the seat next to her. He was watching Hilary, making sure she was okay before he shook his head.

"Don't tell me you just had an anxiety attack..." he breathed.

Hilary wasn't sure if she did just have an anxiety attack but she couldn't help feeling that maybe that's what it was. What made her feel even more embarrassed was the fact that she was sure her close contact with Kai was what brought it on.

'_Smooth__ Hilary...__real__ smooth...__'_

"I..." she choked but was able to regain her ability to speak properly after she paused, "I don't know... did I just have an anxiety attack?"

"I think so. I've only seen people have one right before a battle... you had pretty much all the symptoms."

"Oh God..." Hilary breathed as she covered her face with her hands. Now she was wishing she could disappear.

Kai was about to ask her once again if she was okay but since her breathing had regulated, he assumed she was. The slate haired boy paused as he suddenly felt his heart beat. It was beating faster than usual. Hilary's anxiety attack had truly scared the hell out of him.

"What the hell was that about!" Kai suddenly snapped. He had never been in a position like this and he wasn't sure how to handle it so, suddenly becoming irritated, the cold beyblader lashed out, "You scared the hell out of me! What the fuck?"

"Sorry," Hilary groaned as she leaned back into the couch. Her hands were still covering her face.

Kai quickly ran his fingers feverishly through his hair and turned to the television. The movie was still playing but he found the DVD remote and decided to stop the film all together. He didn't want Hilary catching sight of it and going into another anxiety attack.

He paused for a moment as he set the remote back down onto the table top. Was it the movie that brought on the attack or was it him? Hilary knew him almost as well as he knew himself; he never touched anyone and out of the blue he just pulled her into him and began snuggling with her.

He didn't necessarily think of them as snuggling but maybe the shock from his actions was what triggered Hilary's panic attack. Kai shook his head. No. That couldn't have been the reason. It wasn't that big a deal... but then again... it would be a big deal if...

"Hilary?" Kai called as he turned to her. She groaned in response, "Do you... like me?"

"What!" the brunette choked as she sprang up and sat upright. Their eyes met and instantly, Hilary averted her gaze elsewhere. Kai had been planning on asking her for the longest time but after that, he really didn't need a confirmation. The way she had looked at him pretty much told him everything he really needed to know.

He sighed as he pressed his back into the fabric of the couch. Kai ran his hands over his face and let out a low groan. Although he had planned on asking, he wasn't sure if he was ready for this, especially not after Hilary had just finished having a panic attack.

"Shit..." he grumbled. Kai took a moment to collect himself just before glancing over at Hilary, who was now staring down at her feet with bright red cheeks. Knowing that this was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of her life, Kai tried thinking up ways to make this moment less awkward as much as he possibly could but in all honesty... there was no way to make it less awkward, at least not for her.

"So... you like me..." he began, receiving only a head nod from Hilary, "Guess that explains the picture you have of me in your room," that probably wasn't the best thing to say since Hilary replied with an agony filled groan.

"Oh my God you saw that!" he whined as she covered her face again but this time, she brought her legs up and curled up into the fetal position on the couch.

Kai paused, not sure what to say anymore. He wasn't ready for this. He was really regretting not picking a better time to bring this all up but everything happened so fast that he just didn't know what to do or say anymore.

For a long time, nothing but silence passed between the two. Kai was finally able to mentally calm himself but Hilary remained in the fetal position. She didn't even bother to look up at him, which was beginning to irritate him a little.

"Hilary," Kai said, finally breaking the silence. "It's not that big of a deal,"

"Yes... it is," he heard her voice crack and Kai groaned. She was crying and tears were definitely something Kai Hiwatari didn't know how to deal with.

"Hilary, don't cry,"

"I can't help it, I mean, its so embarrassing!" she sniffled. The brunette finally revealed her face and her eyes were puffy and red from crying but somehow she still managed to look rather put together. "I didn't want you finding out before I found out how you felt about me... God this is embarrassing..."

Kai rolled his eyes but a smirk made its way to his lips. He wasn't sure why but he suddenly felt like he knew how to handle the situation. Kai reached over and gently wiped the tears from Hilary's eyes. He wasn't sure how he felt about her at the moment but he knew all she really needed was comfort... he wasn't good with comforting but he was pretty sure anything sincere would help.

"Stop crying," he said but not in a brash tone. "You're overeating again,"

Hilary didn't speak, she just continued to sniffle.

"You know I'm not good with tears. If you keep on with this, _I__'__ll_ end up having a panic attack," he said jokingly then pulled the tearful brunette towards him to that he could put his arms around her. Much to his own surprise, he actually made her laugh. Progress!

Kai gently began rubbing Hilary's back and the tension in her body began to melt away. She was beginning to relax again and so was Kai. The brown eyed female turned around slightly so that her head was resting against Kai's chest. He wasn't sure if that was the best idea since this position was what induced her attack in the first place but if she did it maybe it was because she was more comfortable about it.

"Seriously though, I almost shat a brick..." Kai admitted, resulting in another laugh from Hilary.

"Sorry," Hilary chuckled as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "I don't know what's wrong with me. First I'm all nervous around you, then it's like the nervousness wasn't even there and then I have a panic attack."

Kai shrugged as he continued on with massaging her back.

"Its fine... just don't do it again. I can't handle it..."

Once again Hilary laughed but this time she pulled away from her nineteen year old crush and sat up.

"Thanks Kai... and thanks for not making me feel like such an idiot,"

"I try..." he breathed then ran his fingers through his unkempt hair once more.

Once again silence fell between them as the half Russian turned to look at the now quiet female to his right. The two of them shared a lopsided grin as Kai offered to hug Hilary once more. She wasn't sure what was up with Kai and his sudden onslaught of friendly nature but when in Rome, do what the Romans do.

Hilary graciously accepted the hug. She looked up at him to say thank you once again but she froze as she noticed just how close they were. His face was merely inches away from hers and the way he was just staring down at her was making Hilary go into a slight daze.

As if being possessed by someone completely different, Hilary pressed on and moved closer to the grey-blue haired male as she whispered a small thank-you.

Just as she was about to close her eyes, the front door open and closed and Hilary's mother walked in.

"Hilary! I'm ho-" Mrs. Tachibana stopped dead in her tracks as she reached the doorway of the sitting room.

Kai and Hilary both glanced at her and instantly the two teenagers found themselves at opposite sides of the couch.

"Mom!" Hilary squeaked, "You're home early..."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

From the way Mrs. Tachibana was looking at them, Kai and Hilary thought it would be a good idea to stand instead of remaining on the couch. She had already caught them pulling away from each other, and Hilary knew there was no point in playing innocent.

As soon as the two teenagers got to their feet, Hilary's mother glanced at her daughter, then at Kai and then back again with her mouth slightly agape. Hilary could tell that the gears in her mother's brain were trying their hardest for her to have something come out of her mouth but Hilary also knew that it would probably get loud in the next few minutes just by the way her mother's left eyebrow kept twitching.

Mrs. Tachibana's big brown eyes averted back towards Kai and she forced a friendly smile to appear on her face.

"Kai... isn't it?" she asked the young male and he nodded. "Pleasure seeing you again..."

"I'm sure..." Kai mumbled, earning him a subtle elbow in the side from Hilary.

Kai's nonchalant purple gaze glanced at Hilary from the corner of his eyes and he saw her make a stern face that told him to keep his snarky comments in his head before they got into even more trouble.

Mrs. Tachibana turned back to Hilary and asked her if she could see her in the kitchen. That's when the eighteen year old female began to panic at little bit. She began to fidget and bit her lip and Kai knew that if she continued with that behaviour, Mrs. Tachibana would definitely suspect something had been going on regardless if it happened or not.

"Stop fidgeting," Kai whispered as he suavely placed his hands into his jeans pockets.

Hilary quickly glanced at him and nodded as she followed her mother into the next room.

As soon as the two Tachibana women left the T.V. room, Kai ran his fingers feverishly through his thick Davy and dark arsenic grey locks.

Everything that had happened had happened so fast that he could barely wrap his head around it all. First off; he wanted to ask Hilary a boat load of questions some of which pertaining to why she had almost kissed him but that certainly wasn't going to happen for the time being. Secondly, Kai wanted to know why he was feeling so unnerved. Sure, Mrs. Tachibana had walked in just as Hilary was about to plant one on him but nothing had happened.

Kai groaned. This nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach wasn't going away and it was getting irritating.

Just as the face painted nineteen year old began pacing up and down the light green family room, he caught wind of what Hilary and her Mother were talking about in the kitchen. Kai carefully began listening on their conversation.

"Hilary! What were you thinking?" Mrs. Tachibana was trying to keep her voice at a minimum but Kai could tell it was becoming more and more difficult for her as she and Hilary continued speaking.

"Mom, it's not what you think..."

"Really? What do you think I thought it was?" Hilary's mother didn't give her daughter any time to answer as she went on, "I just walked in to see my daughter and a boy about to do, God only knew what on my couch!"

"We weren't doing anything mom!"

"Oh really? Is that why you pulled away from him so fast?" Mrs. Tachibana began walking in a circle as she started massaging her temples, "How long was he here?"

Hilary delayed in answering.

"Hilary Akira Tachibana, you better answer me!" her tone wasn't loud but stern and it made Hilary flinch as soon as she heard her full name being called out.

"A few hours..."

"HOW long?"

"A-A few hours, but he was helping me clean the house! We weren't doing anything mom, honest! We just stopped to watch a few movies,"

Mrs. Tachibana closed her eyes as she began massaging her temples harder, "Hilary... you could have at least told me your boyfriend was here,"

"He's not my boyfriend mom..." Hilary looked down at her feet as she said this and Mrs. Tachibana's eyes suddenly flew open as she turned to look at Hilary.

"So you're telling me that you were about to make out with a boy that isn't your boyfriend? HILARY!"

"I wasn't about to make out with him mom!"

"Really? Then what were you two doing then?"

"Just... watching a movie,"

"Oh! Were you? Because when I walked in, neither of you were looking at the television. Hilary, your father and I raised you better than this. Having boys over without telling us? That's not something my little girl would do,"

Hilary felt her eyebrows furrow to the sound of her mother calling her a little girl. Hilary gazed up at her mom and frowned.

"I'm not a little girl anymore mom. I know what I'm doing... kinda," she mumbled the last part to herself.

Mrs. Tachibana paused as a stunned looked etched across her face. Her look of astonishment soon turned into a look of concern as she drew closer to her child.

"Hilary... don't tell me you're... having sex with this boy!"

Hilary's mouth fell open as she looked up at her mother in complete shock.

"NO! I'm not-" the young brunette adjusted the level of her voice, "I'm not having sex with Kai..."

Kai couldn't help but slap his hand over his forehead as he listened to all of this. He knew Hilary was in a bind now and he was planning on going in to save her from her mother's tirade but he felt that if he did, one of them was going to die by the end of the day if he didn't properly plan out what he was going to say.

"Okay, if you two aren't having sex, please explain to me what you're relationship is? I barely know anything about him. All I know is that he's a friend of Tyson's."

"I'm his friend too mom."

"Hmm, looks like you two seem to be more than just friends,"

"Believe me mom... we really are just friends," Hilary sighed as she leaned up against the kitchen counter. She folded her arms and tried to look at anything but her mother.

For a long period of time, Mrs. Tachibana and Hilary were silent. Hilary's mother was about to tell Hilary that maybe it was best if Kai left but just as she opened her mouth to speak, the tall half Russian knocked on the wall to get their attention, just before stepping through the doorway leading from the kitchen to the sitting room.

"I think I'm going to head back to the dojo," He began. He wanted to tell Hilary's mother that nothing had happened and that he really had only stayed over to help Hilary with her chores but he could feel that leaving was his best option. Hearing an explanation from him was less likely to 'take' with Mrs. Tachibana than hearing it from Hilary.

Both Hilary and Mrs. Tachibana turned to look at Kai. One wore a look of composed resolve while the other looked slightly horrified and pleading.

Kai was about to tell Hilary that he'd see her later but maybe now wasn't the time for friendly goodbyes. He was about to let himself out when Hilary jumped up and said that she'd walk him to Hiro's car.

Hilary veered around her mother and met Kai at the door. The two teens headed out of the family room, into the foyer and out the door. Hilary quietly closed the door behind her and groaned as the two of them stood on the porch.

"God!" the Japanese brunette groaned as she tangled her fingers into her hair. "I'm so sorry! I thought she wasn't coming home till four!" Hilary apologized as she turned to Kai briefly. She glanced at the half Russian but looked away just as quickly as she looked at him.

"No it's fine. I should get back anyway." Kai said, trying to sound as calm as possible in order to make Hilary feel like it wasn't that big a deal but it didn't seem to be working.

"I'm going to be in so much trouble when my Dad gets home. I know she's going to tell him," Hilary sighed as she leaned up against her front door. She slide down the wood and sat down limply at the entrance of her home.

Kai wanted to say that Hilary was overreacting and that it really wasn't a big deal but he could tell it was to Hilary's parents. Kai had never met Hilary's father but he knew that when it came to a man's little girl and boys, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this, I shouldn't have... I mean I- I shouldn't..." Hilary was trying to apologize for almost kissing him but Kai waved off the apology.

"Forget it. Don't worry..." the grey haired youth started making his way down the front steps and headed for Hiro's car. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. "Call when you're off probation..."

Hilary let a small smile tug at her lips as she watched Kai climb into the black Mitsubishi. She was about to wave goodbye when her mother suddenly threw the door open.

"Oh, so he is leaving," Mrs. Tachibana remarked as she looked down at Hilary then up at Kai pulling out of their driveway.

"MOM!" Hilary whined as she got to her feet and stormed back into the house.

The last thing Kai saw was Mrs. Tachibana sending him a steely look then closing the door with a rather loud bang.

* * *

><p>When Kai arrived back, Tyson was in the middle of taking a bag of chips to the sitting room when the two of them caught sight of each other. Tyson's Flau red eyed looked Kai up and down just before yelling to the other members of the house that their captain had arrived back.<p>

Kai glared at Tyson just before slipping off his shoes and heading to the small training room that Tyson's grandfather use to teach kids kendo in.

Kai slid the training room door open then quickly closed it as soon as he was inside. He instantly went for some knuckle wraps and quickly began wrapping his hands up before he started going at the punching bag hanging by the far right corner.

It was some time before someone – specifically Ray – came looking for him.

"I'm assuming something serious happened – where ever you were," Ray said as he slipped into the training room.

Kai didn't bother to look behind him since he already knew who was talking to him. Instead, he continued to pound at the black, sand filled bag.

"O-K..." Ray frowned as he cautiously made his way over to his friend. He kept a fair distance away but he made sure that Kai could see him. "What happened? I can tell you're upset about something,"

"I'm not upset," Kai said blandly as he continued on with pounding the punching bag.

"If you weren't upset, you would've went to your room and changed into a pair of track pants and an old t-shirt or something. You just walked in here and instantly came to the training room. What's the matter?" the cat-like teen cocked an eyebrow as Kai quickly glanced at him.

In all honesty Kai really didn't want to talk about it but he knew his friend. Ray wasn't going to leave things alone until he figure out what was wrong. Finally coming to a stop, Kai steadied the punching bag and turned to Ray with a sombre look on his face.

"Battle me," Ray knew Kai meant that he wanted to beybattle but the Chinese boy frowned as he followed Kai out of the training room and down the hall.

"Kai, what's wrong? Where were you all day? I know you don't like answering questions but you were gone all day..."

Kai quickly stopped at his room to retrieve Dranzer. He waited for Ray to retrieve Drigger and with a slightly defeated look he did. The two males then headed for the side door that would lead them to the backyard.

They loaded up their launchers and prepared to battle. They pulled their ripcords with full force and sent Dranzer and Drigger into the dish, sparks flying.

"Are you going to tell me or not?" Ray asked as he jumped back in order for Drigger to respond to moving out of the way to avoid Dranzer's attack.

Kai stalked around his side of the dish, which caused Dranzer to begin circling Drigger. "I was at Hilary's." Kai answered, he suddenly lurched forward and sent his dark blue blade into Ray's silver beyblade.

Ray was able to jump out of harms way but Dranzer had clipped Drigger's side, causing a small but not deep scratch to form on his shoulder.

"All day?" Ray asked as he threw a flying round kick in Kai's direction. Drigger grinded against the dish before shooting towards Dranzer with full force. Kai quickly back out of the way but he felt the two blades collide in the pit of his stomach.

The slate haired blader forced his beyblade forward to knock Drigger back and Dranzer was able to begin circling the white tiger once more.

"I was helping her with her chores." Kai continued as he threw a punch. Dranzer came at Drigger from behind and knocked the silver blade a few paces to the left. Ray stumbled but he steadied himself, he quickly prepared for another attack that didn't come.

The Chinese cat-boy smirked as he raised a curious eyebrow, "She made you help her clean? Is that what you're mad about?"

Kai glared as he sent another punch out and quickly side stepped to cause Dranzer to bash into Drigger and to knock the white tiger back and forth.

"No." Kai said bluntly, "I offered,"

Ray stared at Kai wide eyed, which left him open for another attack, "You offered!" he didn't even see when the red phoenix came up and slammed into his beyblade, causing Drigger to fly to the edge of the beydish but to not fall out. "Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

The two beybladers pulled away from the dish, causing both their blades to draw way from one another. They circled each other as Ray glanced up at Kai, who was staring down into the dish. He was most certainly watching his blade and what was going on in the dish but Ray could tell that Kai was a little lost in thought.

"Okay, so what's got you all hot headed?" Ray asked as he abruptly ran towards the dish. He did another round kick then finished off with a hard punch to the air. Drigger sped towards the dark blue beyblade and smashed into Dranzer hard. Drigger then did a semi circle around the phoenix then slammed into it from the side.

Kai stumbled, just like Ray had done but he was still able to steady himself and stand upright. He could feel the bruises in his sides forming but it didn't bother him.

"I'm not hot headed," Kai proclaimed, "I'm just... trying to wrap my head around it,"

"Around what?"

"Hilary and I almost kissed,"

Ray's golden eyed widened as he looked up at Kai with surprise written all over his handsome face. "WHAT?"

Becoming so distracted by Kai's statement left both Ray and Drigger open. Kai threw another powerful punch towards Ray then unleashed a surprise uppercut. The red phoenix drove right into Drigger, causing the two blades to grind together and cause sparks to fly but Drigger was the one to waver.

Drigger was forced back and Dranzer came at the silver blade again to finish it off completely. The dark blue blade went soaring into Drigger once more and that was the end of the battle.

Both Ray and Drigger were force back away from the dish, but Ray quickly recovered. His body was in pain but he brushed it off since it wasn't as bad as it could've been. The Chinese male jumped to his feet, quickly picked Drigger up and ran over to Kai, still surprised but with a glint of cheeriness in his look.

"Are you serious?" Ray asked.

Kai called Dranzer to him and the blade flew into his gasp. Kai turned his back to Ray as he headed towards the large tree at the far end of the yard.

"Yeah. I'm serious,"

"No way! Really?" Ray exclaimed as he followed closely behind Kai.

"Have you ever noticed boy how much of a girl you can be?" Kai remarked as he glanced at Ray over his shoulder.

"Shut up," Ray quickly snapped as he ran in front of Kai and held him at bay by his shoulders, "Tell me what happened? How did it happen? What were you guys doing?"

Kai swatted Ray's hands away and finished his journey towards the tree. The cold bey captain sat in the shade and waited for his over eager friend to sit down as well before he continued on with his story. As soon as they were both seated, Kai went on.

"We were watching movies and she had a panic attack."

"What? Why?"

"I'm not sure. It could've been because of the movie we were watching but I think she put herself into it because I was too far in her personal space."

"What were you doing in her personal space," Ray had said this with a joking tone but Kai's expression remained as stern as ever.

"I was hugging her."

"What?" Ray exclaimed, "Next you'll be telling me that you're quitting beyblading, shaving your head and running off to join Clown College!"

"Can you be serious?"

"Sorry," Ray apologized. He took a moment to regain his composure then allowed Kai to continue once more.

"She was freaking out over the movie we were watching. It was this horror movie and she got scared. One thing led to another and she was in my arms and we were in each other's space. Then suddenly she had a panic attack. I calm her down and once again, I'm holding her..."

"... Well? GO ON!"

"Her face was really close to mine and..."

"That's when you guys almost kissed?"

"Well, she tried to kiss me. I just didn't pull back or anything..."

Ray nodded as a somewhat proud look settled across his face, "Didn't think she had it in her..."

"Yeah. Well anyway... just as she was about to lay one on me... her mom walks in."

"OHH!" Ray jumped, slightly wide eyed, "Major cock block..."

Kai sent his friend an irritated look as soon as he had finished his statement.

"This is why I don't tell you idiots anything,"

"Hey," Ray said, holding his hands up in a defensive manner, "It's just shocking. I mean... it's you. No offense, but moments like these happen about as often as a Bengal tiger roaming around downtown Tokyo,"

"You walk around downtown Tokyo all the time,"

"Joke not appreciated,"

For the first time since leaving Hilary's house, Kai wore a look of amusement while Ray sent him a sarcastic glance. The cat-boy rolled his eyes briefly before asking Kai if there was anything else he needed to know. Kai shook his head no and the two boys sat there in silence for a moment.

Ray combed his fingers though his bangs before taking time to lie on his back. It was fairly hot outside and the heat shining through the canopy of the tree they were under was causing a sort of starry effect to shine along the grass but that really wasn't what the cat-boy should've been focusing on.

Ray placed his hands behind his head and turned to look at Kai.

"So... do you like her? Hilary I mean?"

Kai paused as he glanced down at Ray. He turned away from his long haired friend to stare at the yard in front of him. He didn't answer.

* * *

><p>About four days passed and Kai noticed that not once did Hilary call or drop by. He wasn't sure if she was grounded or if she was avoiding him but he didn't press the matter. He did tell her to call when her punishment was over... if she received a punishment but judging from the lack of contact he assumed she did.<p>

The slate haired male was sitting in the living room when he noticed Daichi leaving the dojo. He had witnessed Daichi leaving at random times of the day to go out, he just never knew where the redhead went. Which was fine since he hated being asked where he was all day.

After seeing him leave urgently the second day, Kai stopped paying any mind to the short green eyed member of the team. Tyson had explained that Daichi had been leaving to meet someone and none of them knew who but once again, Kai didn't press it any further than that.

What did surprise him was when he suddenly saw Max leaving the dojo. Trying to slip his runners on as quietly and as discreetly as possible. Kai cocked an eyebrow as Max kept looking over his shoulder.

After finally being able to put his shoes on, Max quickly checked his pockets to see if he had his keys, noticing that he didn't the blonde mumbled something incoherent to himself then headed for the living room. That's when he noticed Kai staring at him.

"Um... I'm going out..."

"I didn't ask," Kai said as he turned away from Max and started channel surfing.

"Kay..." Max breathed and quickly looked for his keys. Once finding them he shoved them into his pocket then looked over his shoulder. He turned his head back to look at Kai and cleared his throat to get his captain's attention.

Kai didn't look at Max but he raised an eyebrow to signify that he was listening.

"Don't tell Tyson you saw me leave okay? I'll deal with him when I get back,"

Kai cocked his eyebrow again and this time he actually turned to look at the freckled face boy. Max usually didn't leave the house without Tyson or Kenny in tow so this had slightly spiked Kai's curiosity but once again he didn't ask any questions.

Kai just agreed and Max began smiling from ear to ear.

"Thanks. See you later," Max saluted then quickly slipped out the front door.

* * *

><p>Max walked out to the sidewalk where a girl dressed in a pair of tattered black jeans, a bright green tank top, her signature toque and a pair of all black converse boxing shoes. As the blonde male drew closer he noticed that she was wearing a pair of black and dark green striped gloves that reached just below her elbows.<p>

He thought that her tank top had lacy trimming around the neckline but he noticed that it was black and not green. As soon as he walked up to her, Max realized that it was actually the top of her bra showing beneath the stretchy fabric.

Max quickly looked elsewhere in order for him not to seem perverted. It was in bad taste to walk up to someone and stare mindlessly at their chest...

"Hey," the freckled face blonde greeted.

The girl smiled and said hey back.

"Ready for an ass whoopin'?" Torah smirked as she playfully punched Max in the shoulder.

He laughed as they started walking down the street.

"Me? Ass whooping? You must have me confused with someone else. I'm not naming any names but... she sucks," he laughed, causing Torah to smack him again.

"Shut your face," she remarked as they walked, "Where's Tyson and Kenny. Thought they were gonna come... I was thinkin' of inviting Tiky but she was busy,"

"Tyson and Kenny too," Max lied.

It was either yesterday or the day before when Max ran into Torah. The burnt sienna brown skinned female was retrieving her household's mail when Max spotted her. The two blue eyed teenagers had got to talking and ended up planning a day out at the arcade.

At first Max planned on inviting Tyson and Kenny but soon decided against it sometime after parting with his pretty neighbour. He loved hanging out at the arcade with his two best friends but for some reason he didn't want them to be there when he and Torah went.

To be honest, the blonde thought it was better if he didn't tell Kenny or Tyson at all about his and Torah's plans. He was also very glad she hadn't invited anyone else to come. It seemed more thrilling that it was just the two of them.

Max led the way to the bus stop and luckily for him and Torah the bus was already there. They quickly made their way over to the public transportation vehicle and boarded it. They paid their fare and headed to the back of the bus.

As soon as they were seated, Max started to strike up a conversation.

"Ready to cry?" he joked, causing Torah to roll her eyes but smile anyway.

"You talk alotta smack. Watch when I beat you," Torah joked back.

Max turned his head to stare blankly in front of him. After a moment the blonde blinked, shook his head and turned back towards Torah.

"Nope, don't see that in my future,"

The seventeen year old boy and sixteen year old girl joked and giggled at the back of the bus until they finally reached where they needed to be.

Max was the first to step off the bus but just as his feet hit the sidewalk, he felt Torah tug at his shirt. Just as he was about to turn and look back at her, Torah jumped onto Max's back. The blonde stumbled, being caught slightly off guard but he was able to get them stationed properly.

Max then proceeded to piggy-back Torah to the entrance of the mall. Once reaching the doors, Torah jumped off.

"Stronger than you look, Maxxie." Torah teased as she cut in front of the blonde and let herself through the doors.

"Of course! Look at all these muscles right here." Max laughed as he lifted his arm and flexed, "I should have permits for these guns,"

Torah rolled her eyes again but continued to laugh. Max smiled warmly as he followed along side Torah, listening to her laugh. He didn't know why but the way she laughed was making his stomach knot and flip but in a good way.

As Max led the way to the arcade he couldn't help but steal a glance at Torah every so often. She was staring down at her feet and had stopped laughing but she was smiling and that brought a wider smile to Max's face.

"What are you smiling about? Thinking of my awesome guns or are you thinking about where to take me when I beat you at left for dead?"

Torah's light blue orbs sent Max a sarcastic gaze but still, that perky little smile remained on her face.

"Please. Those guns are more like water guns. You know the ones that you get at the dollar store?"

"Oh. Ouch!"

The two of them laughed as they headed for the escalator.

"But seriously," Max began as he leaned against the escalator railing. Torah was standing a few steps above him and she was doing the same, leaning against the railing.

It said on a small sign somewhere, never to lean on the escalator railings but Max always found himself doing it even though he knew he wasn't suppose to. He began wondering if Torah did the same. "What were you smiling about?"

The terracotta skinned female shrugged as she looked down at him with a calm but very cheerful smile, "Nothing special..."

Max frowned slightly. He wanted to know what Torah was thinking but he didn't push her. She'd tell him if she really wanted him to know...

When they reached the top Torah turned to Max and asked him where they were headed next he pointed the way and said that the arcade would be just around the corner. As they began walking again, Max felt Torah's arm brush past his.

That's when he noticed that she had linked arms with him. He quickly stole another glimpse of the brunette Jamaican/Bajan and smiled. It had definitely been a good idea to not invite Tyson or Kenny. Max knew that he and Torah wouldn't be like this if they had tagged along...

When they reached the arcade, the couple headed for the main desk to change their money for game tokens. As soon as that task was finished Max turned to Torah smirking.

"Prepare to be served,"

"Oh yeah?" Torah snorted as she sashayed her way around the smirking blonde, "Just be warned... I'm not a cheap date. That burger and fries you're gonna have to buy me is gonna cost you for all that back talk."

Max paused for a moment as he walked Torah trot off. He smiled to himself as he turned to follow her.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Max watched closely behind Torah as she shot and killed her way through a hoard of blood crazed zombies. The blonde had greatly underestimated Torah's ability to play left for dead and although it seemed like he'd be the loser buying the winner lunch he didn't at all feel any type of sadness.

In fact, Max was overjoyed.

As Torah shot down another zombie she led her virtual team into a dark warehouse. She allowed the other members to trek ahead while she covered the rear. Two more zombies appeared before the group of virtual people and Torah shot right pass them and hit one of the zombies right between the eyes.

She quickly pressed one of the buttons on the machine to change her weapon to a shot gun and used it to take the other zombies head clean off. The team then went on with their journey while Torah covered the rear.

"Wow... you're a pretty good shot," Max commented as he leaned up against the side of the machine. Torah quickly glanced at him from the corner of her eye and smirked.

"I'm the shit my friend... _the _ shit!"

Max laughed as he continued to watch Torah play the game but instead of watching the machine screen like he was supposed to, Max kept his eyes focused on the sixteen year old playing the game. She was so swept up in the RP adventure that she didn't even notice.

Max found this to be a good thing since he really couldn't explain why he kept staring at her.

Maybe he just found Torah very fascinating. He always found something he liked about her. He really liked the colour of her skin. It reminded him somewhat of those little chocolate treats with the nougat and caramel inside it and Max had to admit that he really liked those.

He also liked Torah's eyes. In great contrast to her skin they were an abnormally bright shade of blue. Max also enjoyed the way Torah dressed. As a matter of fact, he really took an interest in how all of his female neighbours dressed...

He liked their individual styles and their ability to make colours that do seem to match at all harmonize. Max noticed that Naomi as well as Torah were good for that.

The blonde paused as he thought about all this and mulled it over in his brain. He was basing everything off of appearance and it was getting him a little frustrated. He didn't enjoy judging people on their appearances, especially since people had judged him on his throughout most of his beyblading career so he didn't particularly enjoy it.

But then again there wasn't much to base anything off of. Torah and her housemates kept to themselves a lot but Max was a little determined to at least find out a little bit more about the girls next door.

"Ah shit!" Torah whined as she readied herself to shoot again. A mutant zombie came crashing through the wall and her virtual teammates were being knocked out of the way as if they were rag dolls.

It took Torah three or four shots to take the thing down but it was able to hit her virtual person and bring down her life bar.

"That just came out of no where! Did you see that!" Torah exclaimed, causing Max to snap out of his thought induced trace.

His blue eyes quickly returned to Torah and he nodded. Max hadn't at all seen what had happened but it was just better to go along with what was happening.

"Yeah, just came rushing out of no where," he said and swiftly looked at the screen, just before Torah walked over the dead mutant. Max eyes held shock as well as respect as he looked at the lifeless creature. "I can't believe you took that down so fast without having half of your life beaten out of you,"

Torah shrugged as she glanced at the freckled face blonde from the corner of her eye, "It's because I'm so badass."

The two youths shared another laugh as Torah continued playing the game.

* * *

><p>It had been some time before Max and Torah decided to retire from their game playing to go and get themselves something to eat. Torah had actually beaten Max's high score on Left for Dead so the blonde now had to buy the sienna skinned female something to eat.<p>

"No pickles on my burger, thanks." Torah teased as she pinched Max's cheek.

He laughed and swatted her hand away.

"Don't get too cocky now. I'm going to beat at the next game,"

Torah snorted as she rolled her eyes, "In your dreams Maxxie." She leaned against him and prompted her arm up onto Max's shoulder as they approached the fast food counter of Torah's choice. "You gonna order for me?" Torah asked as she sent Max a sly smile.

"I guess since I'm already buying the food,"

"Now don't be a sore loser... You shoulda-" she paused as she turned to stare blankly out at the food court. After a moment she snapped her head back to look at Max to finish saying: "seen it in your future,"

The freckled face male couldn't help but laugh; "Oh so you got jokes?"

"Boy, I ain't just got 'em I bring 'em, speak 'em and repeat,"

The two of them laughed just as the girl behind the counter asked if she could take their order. Just as Max was about to say what he wanted the girl paused and smiled warmly as she got a really good look at Max.

"Aren't you Max Mizuhara from the Blade breakers?"

At this both Max and Torah paused.

"Um... yeah. That's me," Max smiled back. He seemed slightly embarrassed but he was a little pleased with the fact that he was still recognizable.

"Wow, this is so cool! A celebrity at my cash register," the girl behind the counter beamed but quickly regained her composure as she asked Max once again what he wanted to order.

"I'll have a number four and instead of fries lets go with onion rings today." He began as he looked up at the menu, "And give her a number five no pickles," he pointed to Torah and smiled at her right after placing her order.

Torah smiled back but her grin was wiped away as the cashier asked:

"Will that be all for you and your sister?"

In Torah's mind, she literally heard the sound of a car stepping on the breaks and coming to a screeching halt. You and your SISTER?

"I guess," Max replied nonchalantly with a smile. The cashier girl nodded and went off to help prepare and retrieve the food.

Torah just stood there with Max, her mouth slightly agape. She wasn't sure why she was getting so worked up over something so trivial but then again... what on God's green earth made that girl think she and Max were related? They weren't even the same nationality! Torah thought that that would be quite obvious.

The blue eyed Jamaican/Bajan really hoped that the girl was slightly blind...

After a few minutes, the cashier arrived back with Torah and Max's order. She slid the tray of goods over to them and Max took out his wallet.

"$7.50," she said and Max cocked an eyebrow. The cashier's pricing had to be off since he knew two meals couldn't have possibly come up to $7.50... It had to be at least nine or ten dollars but not voicing any complaints Max paid the girl and picked up the tray.

He asked Torah to carry the drinks because he didn't want to drop them. The dark skinned female complied and picked up the beverages as Max quickly said thanks and good bye to the cashier.

Just before leaving to follow the blonde, Torah asked if she could get some ketchup. The cashier quickly retrieved one packet and tossed it on the counter.

"Here you go," she said in an uncaring tone and that was the last straw for Torah.

The blue eyed female placed down the drinks and looked the cashier in the eyes. She stared daggers at her just before saying; "Oh by the way _bitch_," she made sure to emphasize the curse word, "I'm not his sister. And if you flirt with him like that again I'll tear out your hair and sell it so another bald bitch can have some extensions. You hear me?"

And with that Torah picked up the drinks, turned on her heels and skipped away.

* * *

><p>Max was starting to worry but as soon as she saw Torah make her way over to him, his uneasy feeling settled. The blonde smiled as he watched Torah walk over to the table and sit down.<p>

"What took you so long? I thought you were right behind me." Max said as he unwrapped his burger.

Torah shrugged as she picked up one of the straws off of the tray. "I just wanted to get some ketchup and put that cashier in her place..."

Max cocked a brow as he bit into his lunch, "What do you mean?" he asked just before chewing.

"Oh come on, don't act you didn't notice her flirting with you not to mention she took money off the food,"

Max shrugged and Torah furrowed her eyebrows together.

"I just had to make sure she knew who she was dealing with. She practically dashed the ketchup packet at me and she only gave me one! Some customer service,"

Max nearly choked on his food when he started laughing. He quickly covered his mouth, chewed then swallowed before shaking his head and asking Torah what she had said.

Torah smirked, "Nothing. I just told her to back the hell off and that you weren't interested,"

"You said that?" Max chuckled as he shook his head again, "Now how do you know I wasn't interested in her? She was kinda pretty..."

Torah gaze Max an astonished look, "Yeah if you think gap toothed greasy faced bitches are pretty,"

This made Max laugh harder.

"I was joking Torah. She really wasn't my type... did she really have gap teeth?"

"No..."

The two teenaged youths laughed in unison just as they both picked up their burgers to take a bite.

"So why did you say that anyway?" Max inquired as he bit into his burger and began chewing, he made sure that all the food was out of his mouth before saying; "You jealous?" while wearing a cheeky smile.

Torah was about to take her first bite when she came to an abrupt stop and looked up at the blonde from her lunch. She looked at him for a while and pulled back with an irritated face.

"No! I... was just letting her know that you weren't interested... and clarifying that we weren't related. Don't know what gave her that dumb idea..." she grumbled as she finally took her first bite.

Torah wasn't sure why she had gotten that mad at the cashier nor did she know why she threatened her the way she did. All Torah did know was that she had to state she and Max weren't related. If she didn't, Torah felt like she would've exploded...

"Forget about it." Max said as he waved off the conversation, "No big deal now..."

Torah smiled as she took another bite; "I guess..."

* * *

><p>Hours passed and it was time for the seventeen year old Blade breaker and sixteen year old Sweet and Sour Candy to head home.<p>

It was sometime before sunset but neither of them knew the time since they didn't want to bother with checking their cell phones. The two teens sat at the proper bus terminal laughing and giggling about their day.

"Max... you SUCK at DDR!" Torah exclaimed as she held her sides. They were beginning to hurt from laughing so much.

Max laughed as well as he shrugged, "I'm not good on expert! I've only made it up to standard," he defended but the both of them continued to laugh.

"Whatever. At least your rock band skills are better than your DDR ones,"

"Yeah. You gotta admit, I'm pretty wicked on the drums and guitar,"

Torah nodded with agreement. She in fact was rather horrible at Rock Band. Max had tried to help her with raising her score but there was no stopping that train wreck... actually, Max had made it worse.

Not because they both were rather uncoordinated while playing, it was because of the position they ended up in. When Max offered to help her, he had come up from behind and placed his hands over Torah's. They were in such close proximities that Torah lost focus and ended up stumbling right off the platform; bringing poor Max along with her.

Sure the two had laughed it off but Torah couldn't help blushing as she thought about it. First the incident with the cashier then the incident back at the arcade when they were playing Rock band? It seemed all so odd and too hard to wrap her mind around why everything had happened the way it did.

Torah was brought back from her train of thought when Max suddenly tapped her on the shoulder to recapture her attention.

"How's your butt?" he asked, trying to stifle his gleeful titter. That was what Torah had landed on in addition to landing on Max.

"Well, the butt cramps gone," she notified with a smile.

Max nodded with acknowledgement as he finally succumbed to his curiosity. He dug into his pocket to check the time and noticed that he had two missed calls and ten unread text messages. He assumed they were all from Tyson so he ignored them and looked at the time.

8:49.

'Wow...' Max thought. It really was late. No wonder he had so many messages. Time really did fly when you were having fun not to mention the blonde and his darker skinned companion still had time to waste before the transit bus arrived. It would be there in about ten to fifteen minutes.

Max placed his cell phone back into his jeans pocket then turned to look at Torah. She was kicking her feet back and forth and was staring down at them with a slightly puzzled look on her face. She seemed deep in thought, kind of like she had been earlier that day when they were on the escalator.

Max couldn't help but want to ask what she was thinking about. He figured that she probably wasn't going to tell him but that didn't stop him from asking anyway. He leaned forward and tapped Torah on the shoulder but just as he was about to ask her what was the matter Torah quickly turned her head and their lips brushed against one another.

The two teens pulled back and stared at one another with expressions that read;_'Deer caught in headlights'_.

It had been an accident but the two teenagers began blushing and turned away.

"Sorry!" they both apologized in unison, causing them both to look at each other once again.

"No. It's my fault..." they said at the same time. They paused and began chuckling at their foolishness.

Max scratched the back of his head dumbly while Torah tried focusing her gaze else where.

"Really, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I just wanted to ask what was on your mind," Max said as he gave Torah a sheepish glance. He was beginning to feel that the situation was going to get more awkward.

"Oh... um... I..." her voice trailed off as she tried gathering her thoughts and thought of what to say. Nothing good came to mind so the brunt sienna brown skinned nymph shrugged, "Nothing..."

"You must've been thinking about something. I could see it all over your face," the blonde pressed on. He was tired of Torah pussyfooting around when he asked her a question. Maybe if he was a little more direct she'd open up...

An awkward silence fell between the two and once again Max felt foolish. He had guessed it before. If Torah wanted to let him know something she would tell him. Pushing her to tell him was certainly not the best way for the blue eyed neighbours to open up to one another. Not to mention it really wasn't Max's style.

Max was about to mentally kick himself until he suddenly heard Torah say;

"I like you..."

Max's quickly snapped his head to look back at Torah as she finished off with a;

"As a friend I mean... you're cool to hang with."

The blonde frowned slightly. That wasn't exactly what he wanted and/or expected to hear but it was something... turning his frown upside down, Max began smiling again and told Torah that he liked her as well and that they should hang out more often.

"Just the two of us?" Torah asked, only looking at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Sure... if you want to I mean..."

She smiled; "That'd be cool..."

Another long pause fell between them as the minutes passed. Eventually both teens were swept in thought and would glance at one another from time to time.

It was slightly unsettling to Max how awkward thinks had gotten since their lips brushed passed each other a few minutes ago.

Not wanting to have to sit on the bus next to her feeling like an idiot, Max decided to take a chance and see just how Torah felt about the situation. He noticed that she was absentmindedly playing with her hands so the freckled face blonde reached out and took hold of one of them.

Torah jerked from the sudden skin contact and looked down at her lap then up Max's arm and finally at his face. He wasn't looking at her. Instead he was just staring down at his feet, his cheeks starting to pink again from blushing.

Torah felt her face grow hot as a blush began forming on her cheeks but she smiled and lightly gripped Max's hand. This caused the blonde to look at her and smile.

* * *

><p>The bus ride home was mostly silent but Max was finally able to get what he wanted. Torah had answered a few of his questions. Where did you grow up? Where have you travelled? Et cetera.<p>

He started off with those as ice breakers then the questions became more personal.

What's your favourite colour? Favourite Movie? Favourite Food? Et cetera, et cetera. She didn't answer a fair amount of the personal questions but Max was content with the way things were going.

As they walked down their street, the blonde reached out to hold Torah's hand again. She allowed him too for the second time and their fingers interlocked as they walked.

"I had fun today. Did you?" he asked. She nodded.

"Can I borrow your phone for a sec?" she suddenly asked. Max didn't know why Torah wanted his phone but he gave it to her anyway.

With her free hand she took the green plated device and began pressing buttons. As soon as she was finished she handed the phone back to Max and released her grip on his hand.

"I have to hurry home. I didn't call any of the girls today and I don't want them to worry,"

Max nodded since he needed to do the same thing. He nodded and said: "See you later?" he knew he would but he said it in question form anyway.

"If you're lucky." Torah replied with a wink and hurried home. "Text me..." she said just before taking off in a sprint. She hurried up the front steps pulled out her key and was inside her house in seconds.

Max slowly walked his way towards the dojo, as soon as he was through the gate the blonde looked down at his phone and noticed Torah's name in his contact list. She had given him her number.

"Sweet," the blonde smiled before tucking his phone back into his pocket and heading up to the front door.

* * *

><p>It was Thursday; almost the end of the week and Kai was beginning to feel anxious. Not once did Hilary call or stop by and it was getting him to be slightly on edge. He couldn't understand why though. He knew she'd be grounded and he knew she'd have her phone privileges taken away but did Mrs. Tachibana really punish Hilary to the point where she couldn't come and visit at all?<p>

Not only was that griping in the back of his mind but the fact that he cared so much was really setting Kai off. Sure it was partly his fault as to why Hilary was being punished but this all seemed a bit too extreme.

They hadn't done anything wrong but from a parent's point of view, he had to admit the possible evidence as to what he and Hilary could've been doing didn't look that glamorous.

To take his mind off of all of this, the slate haired youth decided to watch some television. He forced himself out of bed and down the hall to the living room. He saw Ray and Tyson in their rooms, Hiro was in the kitchen and when he arrived at the living room Kai found Max texting on the loveseat.

Daichi was no where to be found, yet again.

Although it seemed that Kai's mind was particularly focused on Hilary the elder blader couldn't help but notice a few things with his teammates.

Tyson had been all over the place planning a barbeque. They apparently were going to have one and invite a few friends over but Kai really didn't concern himself to much with that. Daichi was usually missing in action and no one in the dojo knew where the redheaded fifteen year old went but it never seemed to matter as much when he arrived back home. Then there was Max.

Since that day Kai had caught the blonde sneaking out, he noticed that Max had been texting much more than usual throughout the day. For the past few days he had heard Max on the phone with someone while everyone else was in the living room or sleeping.

He wasn't sure which one but Kai was fairly sure the blonde was on the phone with one of the females next door. Pretty much everyone in their household was hung up over a female.

Max and whomever, Hiro and J-Dymez, Tyson although he thought it to be subtle, always brought up Toni in one way or another and then there was Kai.

He didn't think he was hung up on Hilary. That wasn't the case but he had to admit that it was keeping him on his toes.

The face painted youth sat on the couch and flicked on the T.V. set. The news was on and there was another story about bey parts being stolen. He decided to continue watching the story.

Apparently a shipment that was heading to a local shop had been hijacked. There were apparently five to seven people involved with the heist but only one of them was caught.

They showed a picture of the caught suspect. He was young, no older than Max. He looked lost and frightened and Kai could tell that this boy was probably one of the lackeys.

The reporter covering the story listed the names of the shops the beyblading merchandise was supposed to go to and Kai's ears perched up at the sound of a familiar title.

"Max... isn't that the name of your Dad's hobby shop?"

The blonde looked up from his phone curiously towards the television. His big blue eyes went wide as he nodded.

"Yeah! That's my Dad's place... what happened?"

"Some thieves robbed a truck that was delivering parts to his store."

"What? Really?" the blonde exclaimed as he quickly got to his feet and began dialling. Kai knew Max was in the process of calling his father and he was slightly thankful that the blonde was gracious enough to leave the room.

Just as Max left Tyson walked in, looking at Max with curious eyes but he didn't ask the blonde anything. He just walked passed him and into the living room.

Since the day Max had left without telling anyone Tyson and the blonde had been on thin ice. Tyson had asked Max where he had been all day but seventeen year old always seemed to manage getting out of answering the navy haired male's questions.

The day after Tyson and Max didn't speak at all but they began speaking again the day after. Kai, Hiro and the others knew that the two young beybladers wouldn't stay mad at each other for long.

"What's with Max?" Tyson asked as he threw himself onto the loveseat.

"His dad's shop got hijacked."

"What?" the flau red eyed youth exclaimed, "No way!"

Kai wasn't in the mood to play newspaper so he began ignoring the blue haired eighteen year old. Tyson eager waited for a reply but once noticing that Kai wasn't going to tell him anything else, the world champion forced himself up from the smaller couch and notified his grumpy captain that he was off to find someone else to talk to.

Kai waved him away and Tyson furrowed his eyebrows.

"Jeez... grumpy because your girlfriend hasn't called?" although Tyson had mumbled his little comment, that didn't stop Kai from hearing him.

The slate haired male glared daggers at Tyson from the corner of his eyes when he used the remote as a projectile and aimed for Tyson's head.

Much to Kai's surprise, his loud mouthed teammate was able to duck out of harms way and run off.

"Little shit..." Kai grunted in frustration. He was even angrier now that he had thrown the remote and had to get up to retrieve it.

Kai got up from the couch and made his way into the hallway so that he could retrieve the T.V.s remote control. Just as he picked the thing up he heard the doorbell go off.

Kai grunted again as he walked over to the front door to answer it.

He pulled the door open and was about to abruptly ask whomever it was what the hell they wanted he stopped as he noticed who it was.

"Hilary?"

* * *

><p>Tyson headed out into the backyard. He was frustrated being in the dojo. Kai was a jerk, Hiro was on the phone with J-Dymez, Max was on the phone with his dad, Ray was in the training room, Kenny wasn't here and Daichi was missing.<p>

The beyblading world champ had absolutely no one to talk to and it was driving him a little crazy.

"I can't plan our stupid barbeque without the others! I mean, I'd even talk to Hilary!" Tyson's felt himself shiver as he said this. "Okay... maybe not Hilary." He commented.

He was about to make himself comfortable on the veranda when he heard the sound of metal clashing against metal in the yard adjacent to the dojo's.

As curiosity took over the blue haired male walked over to the fence and used one of the rocks in the backyard to help him see over it. He spotted Toni and Tiky as well as a third, unknown girl standing around a beydish.

It wasn't as big as their beydish but it was a descent enough size to train and battle in. Tyson watched as Toni manipulated her blade around the dish then finally stopped to call it back to her.

"Come Kleo," Toni called and the red and bronze beyblade came to her and flew into her grasp. Toni removed her arm launcher and turned to Tiky and the unknown girl all smiles. "This shit is tight, eh Tikz?" Toni said, causing the curvaceous female to nod.

"I made sure Kierra and LaLa tightened the balance ring around the engine gear so Kleopatra could spin properly. Can't battle with a wobbly blade!"

Toni nodded and smiled at the unknown girl.

"Great job LaLa. You and Kierra are wicked with the repairs,"

The girl known as LaLa shrugged as she wiped her greasy hands onto her oil stained sweater and jeans.

"It's what I do," she said. LaLa looked just passed Toni and Tiky and noticed Tyson staring at them. The short brunette pointed and said; "Um... don't make any sudden movements but I think the CIA is onto us?"

Toni and Tiky abruptly turned around on their heels but Tiky began laughing while Toni kissed her teeth and rolled her eyes as soon as they saw who it was.

"He's our neighbour," Tiky notified as the three females walked up to the fence to talk with the curious male next door.

"Why so fass?" Toni said in her Guyanese accent. Tyson cocked a curious eyebrow down at her, since he wasn't sure what she had said. The short female shook her head smiled and translated: "Why are you being so nosey?"

"I'm not being nosey. I heard beyblades so I came to investigate,"

Toni rolled her eyes again, "Nah... Yah juss bein' fass," she looked up at the blue haired boy and once seeing the annoyed look on his face she laughed. "What'd you want Tyson?"

LaLa's eyes widened at the sound of Tyson's name.

"Tyson? As in Tyson Kinomiya?"

Both Toni and Tyson looked at the starry eyed female and the beyblade Champion beamed with pride.

"Yup that's me,"

"I thought I recognized you!" LaLa then turned and smacked Tiky and Toni in the arm, "How come you guys never told me you lived beside Tyson Kinomiya!"

"When the hell did that ever come up!" Toni snapped, "Besides. I'm not about to go around braggin' about living in a neighbourhood with mainstream bladers,"

"Me-OW," Tyson commented just before holding out his hand for LaLa to shake. "You know me, but I don't know you."

LaLa giggled in a fairly high pitched tone as she took hold of Tyson's hand and shook it.

"LaLa Takeuchi."

"Nice to meet you," Tyson greeted as soon as they released each others hands the navy haired boy turned back to his neighbours and informed that that he and his teammates were planning on having a barbeque on the weekend and he wanted them to come. He also said that LaLa could come as well and just before Tiky or Toni could say anything, the green eyed female said:

"We'll be there!"

Tyson smiled, "Cool,"

"Excuse us," Toni quickly said as she dragged LaLa and Tiky away from the fence so that she could speak with the two. The three females spoke to each other in angry and defensive whispers, leaving Tyson alone by the fence.

"Hey! I'm still here!" he announced, earning him another pair of rolled eyes from Toni.

"Just go inside," Toni ordered.

LaLa and Tiky walked back to the house, quickly waving goodbye to Tyson as Toni trotted her way back to the blue haired loud mouth.

"Guess we'll see you on Saturday,"

Tyson smirked, "Yeah... How've you been?"

Toni shrugged, "Alright I guess,"

"You haven't been here since the sleepover."

She shrugged again, "Things to do, people to see. My world can't revolve around you,"

"It could." He smirked, earning him a smack against the forehead.

"Cocky as ever, huh Kinomiya?"

Tyson merely shrugged as the two eighteen year olds smile at one another.

"I'll see you around. Gotta go check up on those two fools before they do anything stupid." With that Toni walked away.

Tyson watched as the five foot three Guyanese beyblader trotted off towards her home. The navy haired youth smiled to himself as he stepped down off of the rock.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Kai stepped back and allowed Hilary more room so that she could step inside the dojo. The Japanese brunette murmured a soft 'Hey' as she slid off her shoes. Kai greeted her back with a 'hey' as well and began staring at Hilary as if she were some sort of oddity.

The shorter brunette felt Kai's eyes on her so she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes.

"What?" she asked feebly.

"Hn," Kai responded, finally snapping out of his trance, "Didn't expect to see you this week. Aren't you grounded?" he asked as he closed the door.

"Yeah..." Hilary answered as she pushed some loose hairs behind her ear, "I'm supposed to be at home but I just can't stay there. It's too quiet..."

Kai nodded and the two teenaged youths walked into the living room. Kai and Hilary sat on the couch but left enough room between themselves for someone else to sit in. If they learned anything from what had happened with Mrs. Tachibana they knew never to be too close and risk being caught in a compromising position.

"Don't you think your mom would call the house phone?" Kai questioned with one raised eyebrow. Hilary looked at him and smiled. The brunette quickly pulled her cell phone from out of her pocket and notified him that she forwarded the house phone to her cell so if her mother did call she could answer.

Kai paused for a moment after Hilary had explained it to him... devious but brilliant.

"I wanted to talk to you though..." Hilary began as she placed her cell phone back into her pocket. She began fiddling with her fingers and Kai could tell that whatever she needed to talk to him about had to do with the day of the incident. Kai stayed silent but allowed Hilary to go on, "I didn't want to call the dojo phone and ask for you since it would..." she trailed off, "Um... anyway, about the other day..." her voice trailed off again.

"What about the other day?" he asked pushing the brunette forward. He knew Hilary was probably going to bring up their 'almost kiss' but even though he saw it coming, Kai wasn't at all sure how to respond to what Hilary was about to say.

During the week, Kai's mind had been on Hilary more than anything else and every so often, he'd think back to her leaning up and trying to kiss him and think about what would've happened if they did kiss.

Hilary would be in a lot more trouble that much was certain but that wasn't as important to some of the other things Kai thought about when it came to Hilary almost kissing him. He really began to wonder what he would've done if she had.

First off, he didn't pull away and Secondly he wasn't sure why. Kai really couldn't wrap his head around how he felt towards Hilary. He always considered her part of the team, he was even so bold as to call her a friend but could he really handle her being more than just a friend?

"I... um... wanted to talk to you about what happened. You know... before my mom walked in?"

And there it was. Kai saw it coming yet still had no idea as to how to reply. He continued remaining silent and allowed Hilary to continue talking while he thought of something to say or better yet figure out how he felt.

"You know how I... well... you know... almost..."

The slate haired male was getting tired of Hilary pussyfooting around it so he just decided to say it for her.

"Kissed me?"

Hilary paused and her cheeks grew hot. She quickly turned away from Kai and squeaked; "Yeah... about that. I'm pretty sure it's obvious now... that I like you but..." it took Hilary almost all of her strength to look at him again. "I was wondering... how you... felt about me..."

And thus the question he'd been dreading. He didn't want to take too long to answer, nor did he want to say the wrong thing. Hilary was sensitive when it came to things like this but honestly it wasn't his forte.

Kai groaned mentally as he tried his best to think of the right words to say but really it was much to difficult because he didn't know at all how he felt about her.

"I..." he began but paused to think about it some more. Hilary stared at him. He could see the eagerness in her eyes and it made that weird feeling in the pit of his stomach return. She had made him feel the same way back at her house...

"I..." He began again, "I don't know..."

A wave of confusion washed across Hilary's face.

The two teenagers stared at one another for what seemed like an abnormally long time before Hilary shook her head and asked Kai what he had just said. He shrugged and repeated himself.

That same look of confusion appeared as Hilary turned away. She sat on the couch not sure as of what to do with herself. She mulled everything over in her head and just couldn't understand why Kai had said he didn't know. A yes or a no would have sufficed; Hilary really didn't want to cling to hope if there wasn't any.

Hilary took a few moments to breathe deeply. She inhaled, then exhaled, then inhaled again and repeated this until she finally got up on her feet and began heading out the room.

"Damn it..." Kai grumbled as he begrudgingly ran his fingers through his hair. He got to his feet as well and followed the brunette female to the door. She was in the process of putting on her shoes when he called out to her.

She shivered at the sound of him calling her name. Before he could get any closer Hilary put up her hand and stopped him from drawing nearer.

"Please... I really don't want this to be anymore awkward than it already is..." she quickly turned around and Kai could tell she was on the verge of tears.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't want Hilary to cry because A: He wasn't good with crying people and B: He just didn't want her to. He knew that it was his fault as to why she was going to cry but he really hoped she refrained from doing so long enough to leave the dojo.

There was nothing he could say at that moment that would stop her from leaving so he just allowed her to go without another word.

Just as Hilary left and closed the door, Tyson came around the corner.

"Dude, I'm going to Costco, wanna come?" the navy haired male asked as he held up Hiro's car keys. "Ray said he's coming..."

Kai ignored Tyson all together and walked down the hall to his room. He needed to think.

Tyson stared at Kai's back as he walked off then disappeared as he turned the corner, "Sheesh. Coulda just said no!" he said to himself then called out to the cat-like Chinese boy and told him to hurry and that precious daylight was being wasted.

* * *

><p>Saturday finally came and most of the Blade breakers were out in the backyard setting everything up. Daichi was even there but the other boys knew he wouldn't be for too long. It was only a matter of time till he left to meet his mystery girlfriend.<p>

Hiro was setting up the barbeque while the others organized the tables and lawn chairs. Max was emptying out a Costco bag onto the table they'd use for the food when he noticed something at the bottom of the large bag.

The blonde reached down and pulled the odd little box out of the bag and cocked an eyebrow as he looked at it. He then began laughing, catching everyone's attention.

"A hammock?" Max asked, looking at Tyson, "Why'd you buy a hammock?"

The dark blue haired Champion smirked as he finished tying a paper lantern to one of the lower tree branches. "Just in case..."

"In case of what?" Kenny questioned, taking the hammock box from Max and studying it, "It holds almost six people! What did you buy this for?"

Tyson merely shrugged as his smirk grew wider, "Just in case..."

"You've got issues dude," Max remarked as he shook his head then proceeded to empty the Costco bag.

"I said the same thing but he _STILL_ bought it," Ray commented, looking down at Tyson. He was up in the tree tying paper lanterns onto the higher branches.

Tyson looked up at Ray and gave the Chinese boy the finger.

"Player hater."

The boys all laughed and shook their heads at Tyson just as Kai stepped out into the backyard. He leaned against one of the veranda support beams and watched as his teammates worked. Daichi and Kenny were now setting the plastic cups, plates and utensils up on the table as Max busied himself with the napkins and everything else.

Tyson was in the process of tying his last lantern when Ray jumped out of the tree and asked Hiro where he wanted him to put the coolers. Hiro told Ray to put them beside the table so the long haired male nodded and did as he was told.

The coolers were still empty so it wasn't too much trouble moving them. Kai then noticed that there was a rather small sake keg located on the table. It may have been small but Kai knew it didn't take much sake to get someone completely drunk off their ass.

The face painted male walked out into the backyard and no one really noticed until he was almost directly beside Ray.

The golden eyed boy jumped from surprise at the appearance of his friend.

"So you're finally awake are you?" Ray asked, cocking an eyebrow at Kai.

"Hn," Kai responded. He'd been awake since seven in the morning but he hadn't left his room until now. The only time he had was to use the bathroom and to brush his teeth when he woke up. "Looks like Tyson blew the liquor budget on sake..."

Ray shook his head, "He had a pretty outrageous liquor budget..."

This time Kai cocked a brow at Ray. "Planning on getting shit faced?"

"Here's hoping." Ray never really was much of a drinker but he really didn't mind the idea of getting drunk off his ass in his own home. That way he could pass out in his own bed...

"Hn," was all Kai said as he took a moment to look around the backyard. Around the fence hung smaller paper lanterns much like the ones that hung in the tree. When Kai took a closer look he noticed that the lanterns were solar powered and would turn themselves on when the sun set.

As his purple gaze continued around the yard Kai noticed that there were a lot of new lawn chairs. All of which matched. He saw Tyson and Max preparing to put up the hammock as Kenny read the instructions and that's what made the slate haired blader pause.

He glanced at Ray then back towards the hammock, causing his feline-like friend to follow his gaze.

"I don't even know so don't ask..." Ray remarked, "By the way, have you spoken to Hilary? Do you think she's in a lot of trouble 'cause I haven't seen her since the day you dropped her home..."

Kai's mood dropped at least thirty more degrees below displeased. He was hoping no one would bring her up since he only just figured out a way to get her off of his mind.

"She came by on Thursday..." Kai stated. Ray sent the half Russian a curious looked and urged him to continue with a 'what happened?' "She came to talk about her almost kissing me,"

Ray instantly became interested, "And...?"

"And I made her cry..."

Ray gave Kai a face-palm. "Kai! What did you say to her?"

"She asked me how I felt about her and I said that I didn't know..."

Yet another face-palm, "Good grief..." Ray sighed as he shook his head. He took a moment before looking back up at Kai and once again, Ray shook his head. "That has got to be one of the dumbest things you've ever done."

Kai's eyebrows knitted together in not only confusion but annoyance as well, "How so? I didn't know so I told her that!"

"You see, to us it makes sense to say it but to Hilary... you might as well have stabbed her in the face..."

Kai's eyebrows furrowed together further just before he grunted, "I can't deal with these sort of things," he grumbled and ran his fingers through his hair. He'd been doing that a lot lately.

Ray merely shrugged as he walked with Kai back to the dojo. "Women are hard to understand and it's inevitable that we'll say something that'll upset them. It's just how things are... but what you need to worry about is when you see her tonight. You have to figure out what you're going to say before she comes in the middle of the night and chops off one of your extremities... and I don't mean your arms, legs or your head..."

"Do you really think she'll come?"

Ray shrugged, "I'm not too sure but I have a feeling,"

"Kitty senses?"

"Strike two... all I'm going to say... Strike two..." as the golden eyed Chinese boy walked off to prepare the food, Kai stood in the doorway dumbfounded. He didn't want to think about this anymore than he needed too but it seemed that he was really going to have to think his ass off before Hilary arrived.

Usually she'd be here by now, helping them all with setting up but Kai knew that she was planning on avoiding him until whatever pain he caused her went away... he just wasn't sure how long that was or even how much it hurt.

* * *

><p>The Barbeque was starting. Garland, Brooklyn and their little blonde tag along; Mystel had already arrived at the dojo and were lounging about chatting with Blade breakers. They asked them the usual questions.<p>

Who was coming? When would they arrive? And all that jazz and the Blade breakers were more than pleased to tell them absolutely everything they knew about the people who had yet to arrive.

Kenny and Max had started up the music just as Daichi slipped through the backyard door and disappeared. The fifteen year old redhead thought he had been very stealthy but both Brooklyn and Garland had caught him slipping out.

The two elder males glanced at one another as they took a swig from their beer bottles.

"Where's he going?" Garland asked as Tyson walked by.

The darker skinned Champion gave the two males curious looks so they had to explain that they were talking about Daichi. Tyson rolled his eyes and grunted that he didn't know where Daichi was going and that he'd been disappearing every so often to meet someone. With that Tyson walked off.

"Sounds like Ming-Ming," Brooklyn commented as he drank again from his frosty beverage. "You don't think..." he left the question open but Garland nearly choked on his beer at it. The silver haired blader shook his head as he wiped the beer as his mouth.

"No way... he hates her..."

Brooklyn shrugged and continued drinking from his bottle.

_Don't stop, make it pop_  
><em>DJ, blow my speakers up<em>  
><em>Tonight, Imma fight<em>  
><em>Till we see the sunlight<em>  
><em>Tick Tock, on the clock<em>  
><em>But the party don't stop, no<em>

_Whoa-oh oh oh_  
><em>Whoa-oh oh oh<em>

_Ain't got a care in world, but got plenty of beer_  
><em>Ain't got no money in my pocket, but I'm already here<br>And now the dudes are lining up cause they hear we got swagger  
>But we kick 'em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger<em>

_I'm talking about - everybody getting crunk, crunk  
>Boys trying to touch my junk, junk<br>gonna smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk_

_Now, now - we goin' till they kick us out, out  
>or the police shut us down, down<br>Police shut us down, down  
>Po-po shut us –<em>

As Kenny adjusted the music levels Hilary snuck her way into the backyard. She had been dropped off by her father and was making sure she was in the clear before entering the party.

Brooklyn and Garland caught sight of her and once again, the two BEGA beyblade members exchanged glances.

"First girl to arrive," Brooklyn smirked.

"I think she's one of the Blade breakers' girlfriend so I wouldn't if I were you..."

Brooklyn frowned but shrugged; "Whoever it is... he's a lucky bastard."

As the two of them watched Hilary make her way into the yard and over to greet Hiro, Max, Kenny and Tyson they began discussing amongst themselves about the other girls that would be arriving.

"It's their neighbours right?" Brooklyn asked, receiving a nod from Garland. "They're single right?"

Garland rolled his eyes as he drank from his beer, "Yes Brooklyn and please, for the love of God, do NOT try to make them play naked karaoke..."

"Spoil sport..."

_Don't stop, make it pop  
>DJ, blow my speakers up<br>Tonight, Imma fight  
>Till we see the sunlight<em>

_Tick tock, on the clock  
>But the party don't stop, no<em>

_Whoa-oh oh oh  
>Whoa-oh oh oh<em>

_DJ, you build me up  
>You break me down<br>My heart, it pounds_

_Yeah, you got me_

_With my hands up  
>You got me now<br>You got that sound_

_Yeah, you got me_

_DJ, you build me up  
>You break me down<br>My heart, it pounds_

_Yeah, you got me_

_with my hands up  
>put your hands up<br>put your hands up_

Garland and Brooklyn heard the sound of girls giggling just behind the Blade breakers backyard door and the two males smiled at one another.

"Here they come," Garland said just before Kierra, Tiky and Torah kicked open the wooden door and caused everyone in the yard to look at them.

Torah:_  
>Now the party don't start till I walk in...<em>

Kierra:

_Don't stop, make it pop  
>DJ, blow my speakers up<br>Tonight, Imma fight  
>till we see the sunlight<em>

Tiky:

_Tick Tock, on the clock_  
><em>But the party don't stop, no<em>

_Whoa-oh oh oh_  
><em>Whoa-oh oh oh<em>

As the mischievous trio entered the yard, Naomi, Kat, Toni, J-Dymez and the girl Tyson had met two days prior walked in behind them, shaking their heads at Torah, Kierra and Tiky's antics.

"They sure know how to make an entrance..." Garland remarked.

"Yeah..." Brooklyn agreed, "Wicked timing."

Most of the Blade breakers as well as Hilary walked to meet the Sweet and Sour Candies half way. They all exchanged their friendly greetings and notified the girls as to whom and where everyone one was in they didn't know already.

The Sweet and Sour candies in turn introduced their little friend; LaLa and everyone shook hands with her.

"It's so cool that you guys invited me," LaLa smiled from ear to ear as she took in everything around her. She loved the set up of the dojo's backyard. She especially liked the beydish over in the far corner. Also, she found the matching paper lanterns to be a nice touch.

"Tyson never passes up a chance to invite a pretty girl over to the house," Max commented.

Toni cocked a brow but didn't say anything. No one even really noticed her change in facial expression except for Kat. The stone eyed female didn't say anything but she was sure to bring it up later.

It was her turn to greet the Blade breakers so she quickly said Hello to everyone but stopped on Tyson and gave him an abrasive look.

"Kinomiya..."

"Satan," Tyson greeted back in response. The blue haired eighteen year old then sent Kat the fakest smile he could muster.

"I prefer Bringer of all Evil but I suppose I can answer to that too..."

"You should. It's your name isn't it?"

Kat forced herself to give Tyson a fake smile back as she tilted her hand and said in the cheeriest voice possible; "Continue and I'll make you the same gender as me,"

"Nice to see you too..." Tyson commented, he pretended not to be afraid but that didn't mask the fact that he moved Kenny in front of him as some sort of shield.

"So... where da food at?" Torah asked, looking around and passed everyone. Once noticing there wasn't any food out, she looked at the Blade breakers with a heart broken expression.

"It's coming. Hiro's on the barbeque and Ray's in the kitchen finishing the appetizers," Kenny informed as he adjusted his glasses.

"That's all we needed to know..." with that Torah grabbed Tiky and Kierra and headed for the dojo, LaLa eagerly followed suit. Hilary asked Max and Kenny to follow the trio just in case they went a little crazy on the finger food. They agreed then followed them while Tyson gave Hilary a stern look.

"You just walked in and you're already bossing people around? Why don't you sit down and relax you fun sucking vampire?"

Hilary shot Tyson a cold glare in response but she didn't say a word, instead she ignored him and continued greeting the neighbours.

"You two are as nice to each other as ever I see," J-Dymez remarked then decided to walk off. Everyone knew she was heading towards Hiro so they let her.

"I thought you guys have been friends for years, how come you're so mean to each other?" Naomi asked, looking at Tyson then Hilary.

"You see... Tyson is like a pimple on the ass of society..."

"And Hilary's like the voice in your head that makes you commit suicide..."

The two eighteen year olds sent each other a sarcastic smile just before returning their gaze to a slightly frightened Naomi.

"Sorry I asked..." she squeaked.

"It isn't your fault... It's his," Hilary remarked, referring to Tyson. She quickly linked arms with Naomi and turned away so that she didn't have to look at Tyson's face any longer. "I'm bringing her to the kitchen. You guys should come. You don't want to catch Tyson's stupidity... or herpes."

Toni and Kat chuckled as Hilary walked away with Naomi; Tyson on the other hand wasn't at all pleased with Hilary's remark. He flipped the Japanese brunette the middle finger just before snapping:

"I don't have herpes, Thanks!"

"There's a shocker!" Kat remarked, causing Toni to laugh harder. Tyson just shot her a glare, "What? It's a good thing that you don't... that shit don't go away... too bad you still got stupidity though... I hope it isn't contagious,"

"Shut up before I throw water at you and make you melt,"

Toni tried to stifle all her laughter but honestly it was too much. Degrading comments always seemed to tickle her funny bone.

"Pleasure talking to you Kinomiya... NOT." Kat snorted as she walked off to follow Naomi and Hilary into the kitchen.

Tyson grunted as the English female trotted off to join her comrades inside the dojo. That left Tyson and Toni alone where they stood. As the two teenaged youths looked at one another there was an awkward moment of silence.

Tyson nervously rubbed the back of his neck as he stared down into Toni's forest green eyes.

"So..." The red eyed Japanese male began, "Want a beer or something?"

Toni shook her head, "Not into beer... but if you got some hard lemonade, I'm down."

The navy haired champion smirked as he held his arm out for Toni to take.

"Escort you to the liquor milady?" he said, speaking in the best British accent he could muster.

Toni laughed and took hold of Tyson's arm, "Why not?" she smirked as the two of them walked towards the coolers over by the table.

* * *

><p>Ray was in the process of asking Mystel to hand him something when all the girls came roaring into the kitchen. The cat-like Chinese boy and the acrobatic Egyptian watched as they all began piling into the cookery, chatting away.<p>

All at once they said a friendly; "Hi Ray!"

Ray smiled that fanged smile of his and greeted them all back. He was about to introduce everyone to Mystel when Hilary decided to take that task upon herself instead. She presented the blonde beyblading acrobat to the girls and he sent them all a cheer smile as he got up on the table to demonstrate his gymnast talents.

Mystel did a one arm hand stand and the girls awed and stared with amazement.

"Don't break anything Mystel," Max laughed as he and Kenny came into the dojo sometime after.

"You know I won't," the seventeen year old smiled as he swiftly switched arms, "I'm just showing off to the pretty girls," he beamed causing them all to coo and fawn over him.

"He's so cute!" LaLa squealed.

"Forget cute, he's fine as hell," Kierra murmured to Torah and Tiky, who laughed but agreed. Once Mystel was done with his theatrics the Egyptian boy somersaulted off of the table and took a bow towards his audience.

The girls eagerly began clapping.

"I don't have a boy. He's mine!" Tiky claimed in a low breath, causing Kierra and Torah to laugh again. As the other girls assaulted Mystel with questions and praise Hilary dragged Naomi over to Ray and asked the Chinese boy what he was making.

Ray shrugged, "Nothing special. Just some Hors d'œuvres..." he notified as he turned to offer the two girls what he was making. "They're chicken and vegetable dumplings,"

"Ooh I love when you make these," Hilary beamed as she took one from the plate and attempted to stuff the whole thing in her mouth.

Naomi was reluctant to try one but Hilary urged her too. The purple eyed female picked one up and bit off a piece, instantly her eyes lit up as she gave Ray a curious look.

"Yes you can have more than one," he smiled as Naomi graciously nodded. She picked up three more and began eating. "You sure can put it away," Ray joked, causing Naomi to look away with embarrassment.

"They're good right?" Hilary asked the Jamaican and Bajan mix as she continued on with stuffing her mouth. With a smile, Naomi nodded and swallowed what she had in her mouth.

"You hand-made these?"

Ray glanced over his shoulder at the timid beyblader and nodded, "That's what I was taught to do. Sure it's easier just to buy things and heat them but it's not really my thing,"

"You're bragging," Hilary commented in a teasing tone. She quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped the soy sauce from her fingers.

"I am not. Naomi asked a question and I answered,"

"Oh just admit your trying to impress her,"

Just then Naomi began choking on her dumpling at Hilary's comment. The Japanese brunette panicked slightly just before she smacked Naomi on the back and helped her to force her food down.

Naomi took a moment or two to breathe but as soon as she held up her hand to notify that she was okay, Ray and Hilary relaxed.

"Wow. You two even eat the same. Have you ever heard of taking your time?" the brunette smiled as she glanced at Ray.

"I choked from eating too fast one time Hilary... let it go..."

As the three of them laughed off Naomi's slightly embarrassing moment, that's when Kai walked in. He had heard something loud and followed the noise to the kitchen. He rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself that he should've known the neighbours were here. They were probably the loudest people he knew other than Tyson and Daichi.

As the slate haired male manoeuvred his way through the kitchen and towards his friend over by the stove, Kai stopped in his tracks as soon as he caught sight of Hilary. Once again, he hadn't expected to see her but he kept a cool and calm demeanour as always.

Hilary, on the other hand, let her feelings of shock show as her eyes widened at the sight of Kai. She began to fidget, just like Kai predicted her too and the brunette began tugging at Naomi and urging the chocolate skin girl to follow her back outside.

Naomi didn't want to leave the kitchen but she complied with Hilary's wishes and followed her out anyway. She only stopped to thank Ray for the dumplings.

"Anytime," The golden eyed male smiled, just as Kai came walking up beside him. Ray glanced at his face painted friend from the corner of his eyes and shook his head. "So that's why Hilary ran off and dragged poor Naomi with her..."

"Subtle, don't you think?" Kai commented as he lazily folded his arms.

"She'll avoid you all night unless you get her alone and talk to her," the cat-like youth commented as he quickly checked what was in the over. He lowered the temperature then turned to Kai who was now knitting his eyebrows together.

He knew that was what had to be done in order for him and Hilary to smooth things over but again; Kai didn't know what to say. He didn't have enough time to think everything through and it was all causing a headache to form. Not to mention the noise everyone was making wasn't helping either.

"Hn," was Kai's only verbal response.

Ray rolled his eyes and folded his arms as well, "You better not distract yourself by drowning this all in a bottle of vodka,"

Kai shot Ray an angry glare. That wasn't what Kai was planning on doing but since Ray had discouraged that option the half Russian was once again left with nothing.

"I hate talking to you..."

Ray shrugged but patted Kai on the shoulder and said; "Trust me, it'll help in the near future." And with that the Chinese boy shooed Kai away from the stove and forced him towards the backyard door.

The slate haired male grunted as he headed outside. He knew it was going to be awkward with Hilary all night and Kai wasn't at all looking forward to that. He glanced around the yard and noticed that everyone, except Naomi, had an alcoholic beverage in their hand.

At least he could numb the agony with liquor. Ray couldn't possibly complain about him having a beer or whatever else...


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Hilary..." Naomi whined as she stumbled her way behind the brunette that dragged her around the yard. "You're going to tear my arm off," she squeaked and finally, Hilary released her hold on the feeble blader.

"Sorry," Hilary sighed as she took a deep drink from her strawberry –peach flavoured cooler.

"Are you trying to avoid something?" the lavender eyed female questioned as she popped another chicken and vegetable dumpling into her mouth.

Hilary finally pulled herself away from her drink and had almost swallowed half the contents of the bottle. "What makes you say that?" she said, looking down at her cooler. She was going to need a new one soon but as long as Kai was over by the ice box she'd wait it out.

"No reason..." Naomi squeaked. She could tell at Hilary was on edge about something she just didn't know what and didn't bother to press the matter further. Naomi didn't want to say anything that would suddenly send Hilary over the edge.

Hilary watched Kai out of the corner of her eyes and quickly averted her gaze every time she suspected him looking at her. She sighed to herself... she was being foolish – avoiding him the way she was but it was the only thing Hilary could think of at the moment.

She wasn't ready to deal with Kai just yet so she planned on prolonging their encounter as long as she possibly could.

"Do you need anything to drink? I can get Tyson to get you something," Hilary offered but Naomi declined as she finished off her last dumpling.

"I don't drink..."

"Don't like it or never tried?"

"Never tried..." Naomi admitted, "I don't think liquor would taste as good as people make it out to be..."

Hilary nodded. She didn't enjoy many alcoholic beverages so she understood Naomi's stand point.

"But will you try something? Just for fun?"

The doe eyed female shrugged, "Maybe..."

Hilary smiled as she wrapped her arm around Naomi's shoulders. "Do you want to be my buddy for the night?"

"Um... sure?"

"Great! C'mon... let's find a place to sit..."

* * *

><p><em>Hey Lil Mama,<br>I can transform ya,  
>No, I can't dance but I can dance on ya,<br>Swiss on the beat, Chris move ya feet,  
>and baby I can transform ya him to a me,<em>

As the night progressed on and everyone finished their food, Kai couldn't help being overly annoyed with Hilary and her oddly amazing powers in avoiding him. He was on his third shot and stared at the brunette with annoyance.

Kai didn't say anything but Ray could see just how angry his friend was.

"She's not making it easy I see," the feline –like male remarked as he drank from his beer bottle. Kai shook his head.

"No... She's not..."

"This is much more complicated than I expected it to be..." Ray sighed as he scratched his head. He glanced down at Kai's empty shot glass and noticed that the Russian was reaching for another bottle of beer. It worried Ray slightly but he didn't protest against Kai's drinking habit for the night. He was having a fairly unsettling time and the half Russian never drank himself foolish so Ray assumed that he wouldn't have to shut Kai up for screaming any vulgarities.

Thank goodness...

_I can change yo' life, make it so new,  
>make you never want to go back to the old you,<br>Ciroc and lime, give it a Lil time,  
>and she can transform like Optimus Prime<em>

As everyone began assembling themselves closer to the middle of the yard, Tyson grabbed everyone's attention by dragging the keg of sake with him to the circle and singing gleefully along to the lyrics of the song.

Tyson:   
><em>What you need? You can have that,<br>my black card they won't decline that,  
>see potential in ya,<br>let me mould that,_

I can transform ya, like a transformer,  
>I can transform ya, I can transform ya,<br>Anything ya want, I can get it for ya,  
>your my baby girl shoulda know I did it for ya,<br>I can trans, I can trans, I can transform ya

"It's time to get shit faced!" the navy haired champion yelled, causing a fair amount of people to cheer and offer their glasses so that Tyson could poor them some of the liquored rice wine. He looked around and everyone with furrowed eyebrows, "Do I look like a bar tender? You guys better get off your ass and get your own..."

Everyone groaned but began chuckling at Tyson's statement.

"What about us?" LaLa said, referring to herself as well as the girls around her. She gave the red eyed blader a puppy dog face and asked if Tyson was really going to force the girls to get their own drinks.

A moment or two of silence passed then Tyson took a moment to correct himself; "Okay... if you have a vagina, I'll serve you your drink!"

"Sexist!" Brooklyn accused in a joking tone, causing Garland to almost choke on the last of his food from laughing.

As everyone got themselves some sake, Tyson began passing out the strong alcohol to the young ladies but it was Hiro who warned them all that sake was very strong and if they didn't watch themselves, someone would probably end up naked in the tree thinking they were Tarzan or Jane.

Hilary brought Naomi a shot glass worth of sake and handed it to her drinking buddy. It was going to be Naomi's first drink of the night.

Taking notice of this Tyson smirked and lightly elbowed Toni so that he could motion towards Hilary and Naomi.

"She doesn't drink does she?" Tyson asked, cocking an eyebrow. Toni shook her head but furrowed her eyebrows together as she stared at the two friends.

"No... That's going to be her first drink..._ever_..."

Tyson smirked and decided to edit the lyrics as the ending part of the song came playing out of the stereo.

Tyson:  
><em>I can transform ya, like a transformer<br>If you want some more liquor, baby I can get it for ya  
>Sake's a Lil sweet, but you'll dance to the beat<br>but if you drink too much  
>we'll transform a good girl to a freak...<em>

The couple watched as Naomi hesitated but downed the drink in her shot glass like she's been doing it since she hit the legal drinking age. Tyson and Toni applauded causing the group to look at them.

"I'd like to announce that Naomi has finally stepped out of her goddamn bubble and drank a shot of sake! Cheers to the bitch that had her first shot of alcohol!" Toni announced.

The group laughed and tipped their glasses in honour of Naomi's first drink. The lavender eyed female began to blush but she held out her hand for another shot.

"... Naomi's getting another shot? Is the world ending or have I drank too much?" Kat remarked as she stared down into her glass.

Torah, Kierra and Tiky began hysterically laughing at the dark haired British female but they as well were shocked. Naomi never drank liquor but she was already prepared for her second shot. They were sure she had heard Hiro's warning so the girls assumed Naomi new what she could or couldn't handle.

The lavender eyed girl was never one that was able to deal with embarrassment so she tried to avoid it as much as possible but due to her meek nature it always seemed to find her.

As the song changed Tyson smirked and began handing everyone a shot of sake, they all began staring at him strangely as he passed them all out.

"I thought you didn't bartend to men," Garland remarked, he was about to drink his sake shot when Tyson stopped him.

"No! Don't drink it, listen to the song first and you'll know when to drink it,"

Everyone went quiet as they listened to the tune playing in the background.

_If you're not drunk ladies and gentlemen  
>Get ready to get fucked up<br>Lets do it  
>Ha-ha<br>LMFAO, You know it  
>Lil Jon, Yeah<br>All of the alcoholics, Where you at  
>Lets go<br>Hey hey hey hey uh huh hey hey hey hey  
>Lets go, yeah!<em>

When I walk in the club  
>All eyes on me<br>I'm with the party rock crew  
>All drinks are free (all drinks are free)<br>we like Ciroc  
>we love Patron<br>we came to party rock  
>everybody it's on!<p>

Everyone looked at one another with mischievous looks on their faces and just before the chorus came, everyone too their sake shot and began singing:

_Shots shots shots shots shots  
>Shots shots shots shots shots<br>Shots shots shots shots shots shots  
>Everybody<em>

_Shots shots shots shots shots  
>Shots shots shots shots shots<br>Shots shots shots shots shots shots  
>Everybody<br>Let me see you do it  
><em>

* * *

><p>As the night progressed further, the tension was no longer noticeable. Kai and Hilary were actually a few seats away from each other now and everyone was buzzed and tipsy.<p>

Tyson downed another shot and an idea suddenly hit the navy haired male as he looked around at the group. There was an equal amount of males as there were females so he thought it was time for a little infantile game of spin the bottle.

There weren't any protests but Tyson announced that whoever didn't want to play should leave now. Hiro and J-Dymez were the first to leave the circle and Naomi was about to get up and go but Hilary and Toni took hold of both her hands and forced her to sit back down.

"You're not going anywhere. You can't be throwin' off the balance!" Toni snapped as she grabbed an empty vodka bottle and placed in the middle of the circle.

Kenny tried doing the same thing Naomi had done, in attempting to escape but Tyson sent his miniature friend a stern glare and the glasses wearing beyblade engineer reluctantly sat back down. Since everyone was familiar with the rules, no one bothered to explain.

Tyson looked around the circle to see who'd go first. Not sure as to which person he should pick, he closed his eyes and waved his hand around until he finally stopped and pointed at someone.

"Ray! You're up... and just so were clear... there ain't gonna be no dudes kissing other dudes... girls kissing girls is okay though,"

Toni rolled her eyes as she smacked Tyson in the arm, "Pig,"

Tyson merely shrugged and allowed Ray to have his turn. The Chinese male spun the bottle and after a few moments it landed on Hilary.

"Tough luck man," Tyson commented, earning him a stern look from Hilary, "Well pucker up and get it over with before her vampire jaw unhinges and she eats your face,"

"Go to hell Tyson," Hilary snapped.

Ray paused and looked at Kai. He didn't want to kiss Hilary and cause any disturbing feelings between himself and his friend but as soon as Kai shrugged and motioned for him to go ahead Ray crawled over to Hilary and kissed her on the cheek.

The two friends smiled and gave each other a high five. Potentially awkward moment: Averted.

"BOO!" Tyson snorted as Ray returned to his place, "New rule. No kisses on the cheek. These kisses got be intense... I mean... like you're going to jail for ten years and your not allowed to see that person during your time there – EVER! I'm talking major blue balls here people!"

The group laughed and Brooklyn shook his head as he offered his fist for Tyson to pound.

"Great way to keep it classy my friend..." the redhead remarked.

It was Hilary's turn to spin now and she landed on Torah. The two girls looked at one another shook their heads and Hilary spun again. Tyson was about to whine and protest but he quieted himself due to the look Toni sent him.

On Hilary's second spin she landed on Mystel and gave the Egyptian a quick peck on the lips. Tyson rolled his eyes but refrained from saying anything, at least they didn't get away with a friendly kiss on the cheek.

Mystel was up and he landed on Tiky. The European mix beamed with joy as she yelled out a joyful: "YES!" she gave herself a mental pat on the back as she leaned over Kierra and Torah to kiss the caramel skinned male.

As the game went on, everyone began laughing at the odd couples that had to share a kiss. Max ended up having to kiss Kierra, LaLa and Kat. Kenny had to kiss Hilary and LaLa and so on and so forth. Eventually all order was lost and whomever wanted to spin the bottle spun it.

Tyson ended up having to kiss Naomi and Hilary but he managed to talk his way out of having to kiss the brunette. It was his turn again and he nearly shrieked as the bottle landed on Kat.

"No. Fucking. Way" Kat stated blatantly, causing the group to roar with laughter.

"Can I choose death instead?" Tyson groaned, "I'm passing on this one!"

"Hey, you can't pass again!" Max chuckled, calling Tyson out. The navy haired boy cocked an eyebrow and stated that yes he could and there was no rule making of forcing others to kiss. The group only allowed the rule because Tyson had revoked the passionate kisses rule.

"You're turn sourpuss," Tyson said, as he handed the bottle over to Kai. Most of the group was fairly surprised that Kai stayed to participate in the game. He even went as far as to kiss the girls he landed on but it never lasted pass a quick peck.

The slate haired boy took the bottle and spun. As it began to slow down, he couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed by the empty container as it landed on Hilary.

The two of them glanced at each other but neither moved. The group watched with eager eyes as the half Russian and the Japanese brunette continued to stare at each other.

"Sheesh. Just kiss her already before we die of old age!" Tyson snapped but they ignored him.

Hilary and Kai finally looked away from one another and both mumbled a; "Pass..."

"Thank God. Didn't want to see that lip lock anyway," Tyson remarked then passed Kenny the bottle. "You're up chief."

With a loud gulp, Kenny placed the bottle on the floor and spun it. Everyone watched as the empty bottle spun and spun and spun until finally... it landed on Kierra.

The green eyed Trinidadian engineer looked up at Kenny and smiled, "Pucker up hot stuff," she giggled as she cupped Kenny's face, removed his glasses and planted one on him. The circle went silent as the kiss lasted for at least four seconds.

Kierra pulled away laughing as Kenny struggled to find and put his glasses back on. Once he did the short beyblade specialist's face instantly went red and the others began teasing him.

"Alright Chief!" Max cheered as he gave Kenny a high five.

Kenny quickly passed the bottle to Garland and turned to Tyson; "I've suffered enough embarrassment. Can I go now?" he asked and Tyson rolled his eyes but allowed his flustered friend to leave. Tyson asked if anyone else wanted to leave the circle and six people stood. Hilary, Kierra, Mystel, Tiky, Kenny and Kai all decided to leave the circle.

"Whatever." Tyson shrugged. At least they didn't set off the boy to girl ratio, "Garland. You're up!"

As soon as everyone moved in closer, the silver haired male set the bottle down and spun it. When it finally decided to slow down Garland tried his hardest to fight back the blush that began forming at his cheeks.

The bottle had landed on Kat, which Garland had been wishing it would land on since they began playing the game. Brooklyn began laughing as he nudged Garland in the side.

"Hey! Looks like your lucky spin," the boy with his left ear pierced said and Garland told him to keep it down but everyone had already heard so Brooklyn just continued speaking. He had consumed a fair amount of alcohol so Garland knew the redhead wasn't going to close his mouth for anything. "You know. He's been dying to kiss her. I mean the guys totally in love. Hiro gave him Kat's number and he goes on and on about if should call or text her. It's pretty funny,"

Garland slapped his hand over his face in embarrassment, "Thanks Brooklyn..."

"No, he didn't just air out his boy's laundry like that... that's cold," Torah remarked as she shook her head and chuckled with Max.

The silver haired BEGA blader and the stony eyed Sweet and Sour Candy looked at one another. Kat didn't say anything which in turn made Garland even more uncomfortable.

"I... think I'll pass..." Garland spoke as he picked himself up and left the circle. Kat did the same but she told everyone she was no longer into the game and just left. Everyone else allowed them to leave as Tyson told Brooklyn to spin the bottle.

With a goofy grin, he nodded and spun it. Brooklyn landed on LaLa and the two shared a curious glance. Brooklyn soon shrugged and said: "When in Rome... make out with the Romans," with that he pulled LaLa to him and planted a heated kiss on her lips.

The kiss lasted out five seconds as Brooklyn finally pulled away, leaving LaLa completely awestruck. She and Brooklyn glanced at each other once more before he handed the bottle to Ray.

Becoming bored of the game, Ray quickly spun the bottle and announced that after his turn he'd be leaving the circle. The bottle spun and finally it stopped and landed on the doe eyed female; Naomi.

She looked down at the bottle and then at Ray. He was about to make his way over to kiss her until he noticed just how tipsy she was. Instead, he placed a steadying hand on Naomi's shoulder and asked if she was alright.

Naomi nodded and whispered a timid yes. Ray helped the chocolate skinned female to her feet and asked her if she was sure. Naomi nodded once more but ended off with a; "I think I'm gonna go to the bathroom..."

"She's gonna blow chunks," Tyson remarked but Naomi shook her head and blatantly stated that she was going to pee.

The others laughed and with that she and Ray left the circle, leaving LaLa, Brooklyn, Max, Torah, Tyson and Toni behind. Max decided to go next and spun the bottle. As it spun, Torah had accidently placed her foot out to far and it caused the bottle to hit it which in turn made the empty container stop on her.

No one but Max and herself seemed to notice this as Tyson and the others Ooh'ed at them. Not bothering to notify the group about the mishap, Max turned to Torah with a slightly embarrassed expression. Their light blue eyes locked as they slowly leaned forward and gently kissed each other's lips.

Everything seemed to melt away as the two young gamers went on with their lip lock. For what seemed like a very long time, neither of them bothered with anyone or anything around them. At the moment, all they saw was each other.

When Max and Torah finally did pull away, Max quickly whispered something to the sienna skinned female that they shared as a personal joke.

"Guess that's what was supposed to happen at the bus station..." he smiled causing Torah to smile back. The two quickly turned away and stated that they no longer wanted to play. Brooklyn and LaLa did the same and the four of them all stood up and removed themselves for the dwindled circle.

Toni and Tyson were the only ones left but they didn't seem to care as much. Toni rested her head on Tyson's shoulder and stated that the game had been much more fun than she had expected it to be but she soon chalked that up to the alcohol in her system.

Tyson gently placed his arm around Toni's shoulder and rested his chin on the crown of her head.

"It wasn't that great... not to me at least..." he breathed as he brushed his fingertips lightly against Toni's dark tan brown skin.

"Why's that?" she asked resting one of her hands on Tyson's knee.

"Because I didn't get to kiss you..."

Toni chuckled as she playfully smacked the navy haired beyblader. She turned her head to look up at him and he in turn did the same to look down at her.

"You can kiss me now..." she breathed as she drew closer to the blue haired male. Without any hesitation, Tyson leaned forward and captured Toni's lips with his own. Their kiss lasted fairly long and the two came away grinning.

"That all you got?" Toni challenged as she wrapped her arms around Tyson's neck.

"No," he breathed and pulled her in so that he could kiss her again.

* * *

><p>The night had gotten quiet and the paper lanterns were ablaze. They kept the mosquitoes at bay as the Blade breaker's barbeque party continued on.<p>

A few people had migrated indoors but not much. Most of the Blade breakers, Garland, Brooklyn and a hand full of the Sweet and Sour Candies were still outdoors, dancing to the music and chatting with one another.

As Garland held a half conversation/half scolding session with Brooklyn the silver haired male caught sight of Kat. He paused to gaze at her and their eyes locked but she was the first to look away. Garland felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment and he sent Brooklyn into the dojo and banned him from drinking anymore alcohol.

Garland reinforced this rule by telling Hiro that all Brooklyn was about to drink was water at this point. The blue hair coach nodded and Garland slowly began making his way over to Kat. She hadn't noticed him yet so he felt slightly better about that since it didn't give her much time to run away or anything of the sort.

As Garland drew closer, he tried his best to figure out what to say to her. Nothing seemed good enough, so the BEGA blader just decided to wing it. He was a foot away from the British beyblader when she finally noticed him.

Kat's cold blue eyes ran over Garland just before he asked if he could sit in the lawn chair next to hers. She shrugged, stated it was a free country and with a smile he sat down. An awkward silence feel between them sometime after Garland had made himself comfortable.

He anxiously began rubbing the back of his neck until Garland finally broke down and turned to Kat with an unreadable look on his face.

"Look – what happened tonight with Brooklyn-" she cut him off by waving her hand.

"No big deal." She said and turned away. Garland got the feeling that Kat wasn't at all worried, freaked out and/or unsettled by what Brooklyn had blurted out but he also felt that she was making that the end of the conversation.

Not ready to back down, Garland recaptured Kat's attention but subtly clearing his throat. As soon as she looked at him, he started up is speech again.

"Kat. I like you. I think you already knew that thanks to Brooklyn and – if you don't mind me asking – would you be okay with me..." his voice trailed off as he felt his mouth go dry. He hoped Kat would catch on to where he was going with his question and judging by the way she was staring at him, he assumed she did.

She raised a curious brow at him, "Are you asking if you could kiss me?"

Not being able to speak anymore, all Garland did was nod and Kat began to chuckle. He seemed slightly discouraged at first but as Kat shrugged a humble grin began spreading across his handsome face.

"Guess this'll make up for the whole spin the bottle thing," she said. Garland laughed as he leaned in and gently kissed Kat on the lips. Not wanting to drag it along Garland pulled away after a few seconds and began rubbing the back of his neck again.

Still, he was speechless but now he had more of a reason of being so.

"Oh and about Hiro giving you my phone number..."

Garland felt his stomach sink but he didn't speak as he allowed Kat to go on with what she was saying.

"I wouldn't say no if you decided to call me and ask if you wanted to hang out or something..." she gave him a genuine smile and Garland felt his lips contort into another sheepish grin.

* * *

><p>The party outside had been officially moved indoors. Everyone – except Kai who had chosen to migrate to his bedroom – was now in the living room, listening to music and singing along. Most of the group had sobered up but there were still a few individuals that hadn't.<p>

_Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!  
>Oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh!<br>Caught in a bad romance_

Naomi squealed at the top of her lungs as she went over to the sound system and turned up the music.

"I love this song!" she stated as she turned the volume dial up high and began singing alone to the song. A few of the others sang along as well, but Naomi sang the loudest.

Naomi:  
><em>Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah!<br>Roma-Ro-ma-ma-ah!  
>Ga-ga-ooh-la-la!<br>Want your bad romance_

I want your ugly  
>I want your disease<br>I want your everything  
>As long as it's free<br>I want your love  
>Love-love-love<br>I want your love

_I want your drama  
>the touch of your hand<br>I want your leather studded kiss in the sand_

_I want your love  
>Love-love-love<br>I want your love  
>Love-love-love<br>I want your love_

Another karaoke seminar began as everyone started singing loudly to the song. Naomi began to provocatively dance around as if Lady Gaga herself had taken over the innocent girl's body.

_I want your horror  
>I want your design<br>'Cause you're a criminal  
>As long as your mine<br>I want your love  
>Love-love-love<br>I want your love_

_I want your psycho_  
><em>Your vertical stick<em>  
><em>Want you in my room<em>  
><em>When your baby is sick<em>  
><em>I want your love<em>  
><em>Love-love-love<em>  
><em>I want your love<em>  
><em>Love-love-love<em>  
><em>I want your love<em>

_I want your loving  
>And I want your revenge<br>You and me could write a bad romance  
>I want your loving<br>All your love is revenge  
>You and me could write a bad romance<em>

The chocolate skinned female began walking around the room, forcing everyone up from their seats so that they could dance along with her. Tiky and Kierra did a few of the official video dance moves with Naomi, causing Toni and Torah to get up and join the model walk. The girls began strutting their stuff and soon Hilary and LaLa joined as they all sang:

_Walk walk fashion baby  
>Work it<br>Move that bitch crazy  
>Walk walk fashion baby<br>Work it  
>Move that bitch crazy<br>Walk walk fashion baby  
>Work it<br>Move that bitch crazy  
>Walk walk passion baby<br>Work it  
>Imma Freak bitch baby<em>

The boys couldn't help but cheer them all on.

Naomi became even bolder as her favourite part of the song began to play. She gracefully pushed her way through the crowd of girls and did a sexy slink down the aisle they had formed between themselves.

She ran her fingers through her hair and swayed her hips as she model walked and sang:

_I want your love  
>And I want your revenge<br>I want your love  
>I don't wanna be friends!<em>

She quickly changed her pace as she got up on the table, once again and began crawling along it, all the while singing in French:

_Je veux ton amour  
>et je veux ta revanche,<br>Je veux ton amour _

She crawled to the edge of the table towards where Ray was sitting then forced the Chinese boy onto his back; no one had expected it so they all stared with surprise as she crawled on top of him and finished the verse.

"_I don't wanna be Friends..."_ she whispered and everyone stared with wide eyes as Naomi cupped Ray's face and passionately kissed in on the lips.

Torah's mouth literally fell open at the sight of her sister doing this.

"I'm so proud yet so embarrassed at the same time..." she breathed to the other girls.

As Naomi pulled away, Ray was finally able to sit up. Everything had happened in the blink of an eye and he hadn't seen it coming. He was about to ask Naomi about what she had just done but the lavender eyed girl wrapped her arms around Ray's neck then passed out.

For a moment there was only silence until...

"That... has got to have been _THE_ single most amazing thing I've seen in my life..." Tyson remarked.

The room couldn't help but break out into laughter as Ray stood up and scooped Naomi up in his hands, bridal style.

"She's so drunk..." the Chinese boy chuckled with a sigh as he thought of the proper place to set Naomi down so that she could rest.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

When Naomi awoke three hours later, the chocolate skinned nymph was greeted by a monstrous headache. She was about to go and find herself something to numb the pain when she suddenly began to take in her surroundings.

She didn't remember much, thanks to the large amount of sake running through her system so she hoped that she hadn't drunkenly stumbled into anyone room to pass out. What Naomi hoped the most was that she didn't puke on anything or on anyone.

As she swung her legs over the side of the bed, Naomi heard the sound of her drinking buddy's voice.

"You're awake!" Hilary clapped with delight, "I was starting to get a little worried..."

Naomi rubbed her head and squinted her eyes. The room was dark and the only light was from the moon shining outside through the window.

"H-How long was I asleep?" she asked, that headache she had woken up to was beginning to pound away at her head.

"About three hours," Hilary informed, causing Naomi to groan and fall back on the extremely soft bedding. She began staring up at the ceiling and wondering whose room she was in.

Naomi decided to sit back up and take another look around. There were some obvious hints as to whose room it was but Naomi wasn't able to put two and two together. Her head hurt way too much.

"I shouldn't have drank so much. This'll teach me never to drink again... I end up wandering and passing out in someone's room!" Naomi groaned again and covered her face with her hands.

Hilary shook her head and smiled as she walked over to Naomi and sat down beside her. Hilary patted her drinking buddy on the shoulder then proceeded to tell her what really happened before she passed out.

"Here's the thing Naomi... you didn't wander into Ray's room and pass out. He carried you here."

Naomi shot up and looked at Hilary; "Huh?" she stared at the yellow-peachy skinned female with an array of emotions on her face but Hilary continued on.

"Yeah... You sort of got really drunk and Bad Romance came on and it just went downhill from there..."

Naomi's eyebrows knitted together with worry, "What did I do...?"

"Well, we're not sure but we all think that you were possessed by Lady Gaga as you started to dance a little bit like a stripper..."

Naomi's mouth fell open and she quickly looked down at herself. All of her clothing was still there so she assumed that she hadn't actually begun stripping.

"Don't get me wrong. You're a pretty awesome dancer but that's not the worst of it..." Naomi groaned and covered her face with her hands again but allowed Hilary to keep speaking, "After you got all the girls to get up and do the model walk, you then proceeded to crawl on the table, sing in French then..." Hilary's voice trailed off, leaving Naomi even more anxious.

"What?" the lavender eyed female questioned as she moved her hands from her face, "What did I do after that?"

"I'm not sure you want to know..."

Naomi frowned but quickly forced a weak smile to her face, "It couldn't have possibly been any worse than me dancing like a stripper." It could but she was trying to be optimistic.

"It could... after you crawled on the table and sang in French, you pushed Ray onto his back, climbed on top of him and proceeded to kiss him in front of almost everyone at the party..."

The dimly lit room went eerily silent and Naomi stared at Hilary with a horror filled look on her face. For a moment, Naomi was speechless. It wasn't until she threw herself onto the bedding and began whining and sulking about how embarrassing her actions had been.

"Kill me!" she begged but Hilary just gave her friend a warm smile and a comforting rub on the back.

"It's not that bad..."

Naomi quickly glanced at Hilary and looked at her as if she had said something foolish. She did but Hilary was only trying to make Naomi feel better. The timid female returned to burying her head and face into her hands and the duvet of the bed. Naomi went on with her whining and groaning and Hilary knew some tissues, a heavy dose of pain killers and water was needed.

If Naomi continued on with what she was doing, Hilary assumed that eventually, the chocolate skinned female was going to make herself sick from all the alcohol and crying. At least some water would dilute it.

Hilary gave Naomi's back another quick rub as she told the embarrassed girl that she was going to quickly pop into the kitchen and bring her something to numb her headache and to drink. Naomi didn't want Hilary to leave but she allowed her too anyway and begged for the brunette to hurry back.

Hilary complied with Naomi's plea and quickly removed herself from the room. She made her way down the hall and was about to head to the kitchen until she bumped into the Chinese cat-boy himself.

"She okay?" Ray asked.

Hilary nodded with a smile and sighed, "She wants to go home, walk upstairs to her room, crawl under her bed and die but yeah... she's okay..."

Ray frowned and took a gander down the hall towards his room.

"Where are you going?" the golden eyed male asked curiously.

"To get her some pain killers and water... maybe a box of tissue just in case she needs to cry,"

"I'll get it," he offered but before Hilary could protest, Ray was already making his way towards the kitchen, "Naomi's not going to like that..." the brunette murmured as she made her way back down the hall.

Instead of heading straight back to Ray's room, Hilary decided to take a little detour to the bathroom. She hadn't seen her reflection since she had left her house and she wanted to make sure that she didn't look like a total alcoholic. Blood shot eyes and ruffled clothes were not a good look for her.

The brunette noticed that the door was open so she slipped in and looked in the mirror. She didn't look absolutely terrible but she didn't look as great as she did when she first arrived either. Hilary flicked on the bathroom light to get a better look at herself.

She stared at her reflection and accessed her outfit. She was wearing an aqua green, low-cut cotton blouse with three quarter sleeves and a pair of high waist dark blue skinny jeans. Although it was simple, Hilary thought she looked very appealing in her attire.

Her mother had finally suspended her grounding sentence and allowed Hilary to come to the Blade breakers barbeque party but Mrs. Tachibana instantly became displeased with what her daughter was currently wearing.

Hilary's mother asked Hilary to go back to her room and change because she felt her blouse was cut way too low. Hilary had complained but she ended up going back to her room anyway. Instead of changing her top, Hilary merely wore a hoodless jacket over it. She returned downstairs and put on a show to make it seem like she had really gone upstairs and changed.

Mrs. Tachibana sent her husband, Mr. Tachibana out to drive Hilary to the dojo and that was that.

Hilary was in the process of fixing her hair and she didn't even notice the figure that had walked by the bathroom door. The person retraced their stepped and fell back to see if it really was Hilary in the bathroom and just as the brunette turned off the light and exited the porcelain filled room the two people bumped into one another.

Hilary was about to apologize when she finally looked up at whom she had bumped into and the words died at the tip of her tongue. It was Kai.

"...Hey..." she finally managed to murmur and he did the same.

A long pause of silence fell over them and Hilary tried her best to slip away but the half Russian quickly prevented her from doing so by placing his arm next to her and against the wall. Pretty much trapping her in the hallway.

"I need to talk to you..."

"I'm sure you do," Hilary breathed, "But I have to get back to Naomi. She passed out and I want to make sure she's alright,"

"She can wait,"

Not being able to think up any more excuses Hilary just rested her back against the hallway wall and sheepishly stared down at her feet. Kai wanted her to at least look at him while he was talking to her but he didn't push the matter. It was probably the best he'd get.

"Look, I know you're mad at me but-"

"I'm not mad..." Hilary clarified causing Kai to actually lose his train of thought for a moment. He hadn't intended on trapping Hilary in the hallway to speak with her but since the opportunity reared itself the slate haired male didn't bother to let it fly away.

He had a significant amount of liquor running through his system and although he seemed perfectly put together, the matter of the fact was that he was almost capable of anything at this point, especially losing his train of thought.

Kai shook his head and took a moment to remember just what he and Hilary had been talking about. Once he remembered the face painted youth went on with what he wanted to say.

"I'm sorry."

That's what finally made Hilary look at him. She tilted her head upwards and gave him a stunned expression. The way she looked up at him gave Kai pause but he forced himself not to get distracted and to finish what needed to be said.

"I sorry for saying what I did but it's the truth. I couldn't figure out how I felt about you so I just told you what came to my mind. I know you weren't pleased with the answer but it was better than me lying to you..."

Hilary shrugged and nodded as she returned to staring down at the ground, "I guess you're right..." she spoke softly. At the moment all she wanted to do was disappear. The two of them went silent and Hilary could hear Kai's soft breathing. She smelt the alcohol on him but paid it no mind, especially since she probably smelled the same way... she'd have to get that scent out of her clothes before she returned home.

"Are you really just going to stare at your feet all night?" Kai questioned in a short tempered manner and Hilary looked up at him.

"Sorry. It's just... I really don't want to talk about this,"

"Too bad huh?"

Another awkward silence feel between the two and Hilary swore Kai was getting closer to her but she soon shook that out of her head and said that it was just her imagination. She shut her eyes tightly and took a moment to gain control over herself. Maybe she had drunk a lot more than she thought.

When Hilary opened her eyes Kai had bent down to her eye level and was staring at her with one eyebrow raised. His face was only a few inches from hers and Hilary almost yelped.

"W-What are you doing?" she said, her voice barely a whispered. Kai rolled his eyes but paced his hands against the wall on either side of Hilary's shoulders and trapped her further.

"You wanted to kiss me right... now's your chance..."

Hilary felt her legs go weak as Kai almost closed the gap between them. Her heart was beating against her chest as he stopped just short of her lips. Unable to resist the urge, Hilary motioned forward and pressed her lips to his.

As the two teenagers kissed, Hilary felt herself slip into the motions and wrap her arms around Kai's neck. Kai had taken his hands off the wall but he wasn't sure where to place them. Sensing his distress Hilary aided him and placed his hands on her hips.

Kai drew closer so that he was pinning Hilary against the wall but she didn't seem to mind. She was too busy with focusing on Kai's lips.

When they finally drew apart Kai was wearing an emotionless look while Hilary's eyes went wide with shock.

"Did I really just kiss Kai..." she asked herself but he nodded and answered her rhetorical question.

"Yeah... you did..." he said just before he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. She followed his signal but her mind couldn't help but race. This was very unlike Kai but this was definitely something a very tipsy and/or drunk Kai would do.

Finally throwing caution to the wind Hilary tightened her grip around Kai and he in turn wrapped his arms around Hilary's slim torso. He brought her close and forced her up onto her toes just before allowing her to rest her back against the wall once more but the couple roughly tore away from each other as they heard someone making their way down the hall.

"Fuck it..." Kai said and was about to return to kissing Hilary but instead of aiming for her lips he pressed his lips against her neck. It was much easier to get to since Hilary was still staring down the wall.

Hilary squeaked and returned her gaze to look at Kai. As much as this was a dream come true, Hilary was starting to panic. She really wasn't in the mood to explain why she and Kai were groping and making out with one another in the hallway.

"Stop..." she begged in a hushed tone, "We'll be caught,"

Kai merely shrugged and continued. Hilary groaned but saw their means of escape. The brunette quickly side stepped so that she and Kai could make their way into the bathroom. They stumbled but as soon as they were in the shower room Hilary kicked the door shut.

* * *

><p>Naomi had her face buried in the pillows when she heard the door open. She didn't bother to get up and look who it was since she naturally assumed it was Hilary. the chocolate skinned female felt a light tap on her shoulder and just as Naomi finally sat up to thank her drinking buddy for being so kind in taking care of her, she froze.<p>

It wasn't Hilary... it was actually the very last person the lavender eyed girl wanted to see at the moment. With a loud yelp of surprise, Naomi jumped all the way back but due to a miscalculation she was now tittering on the edge of the bed.

She flailed her arms in a desperate attempt in balancing herself so that she wouldn't fall but her efforts were futile. Just as she fell back, Ray reached out and grabbed the front of Naomi's cool grey zip-up hoodie.

His attempted in preventing her from falling was failed as well and the two teenagers ended up toppling right off the bed into a painful double somersault and the two finally landed side by side on their backs.

"...Ow..." Naomi whimpered as she slowly sat up and rubbed the back of her head. Not only had her headache gotten worse but now her body was in some serious pain.

"Ow..." Ray echoed as he sat up as well. He rubbed a really sore spot on his shoulder but began chuckling. As painful as it was, their drop and landing was quite a sight to imagine... "That didn't at all work out like I planned..." he laughed then looked at the timid girl beside him.

She was staring down into her lap while still rubbing the back of her head. Now was a better time than any to offer her the pain killer and water bottle he had delivered to her but it was on the other side of the bed and both of them were too sore to bother getting it at the moment.

"Some fall..." the Chinese boy said, trying to get Naomi's attention. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes but she quickly averted her gaze back towards her lap. A small smile tugged at her lips.

Ray noticed Naomi's little smile and smiled as well.

"You okay?" he finally got to his feet and felt a sharp pain run through his body but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He outstretched his hands for Naomi to grasp so he could help her to her feet but she refused to look up at him.

Noticing that she wasn't planning on looking up anytime soon, Ray gently took hold of Naomi's arms and in one swift motion, helped her to her feet. As soon as Naomi was standing, her light purple eyes stared at him with a 'deer caught in headlights' look written all over her face. Ray couldn't help but laugh at the look she was giving him a little bit.

"Maybe you hit your head harder than I thought..." he joked and the chocolate skinned beybladers turned away as she felt her cheeks go red.

"Coordination isn't my thing..." she murmured and Ray smiled, at least she was finally talking to him.

"That's kind of strange since you're a beyblader and coordination really should be your thing..."

Naomi shrugged but didn't say anything else. Ray quickly went over his bed to retrieve the water bottle but it took him few moments longer to find the little white pain killer, he later found it near the bed's pillows.

The golden eyed Chinese boy handed Naomi his offerings and she accepted them with a feeble thank you.

"No big deal... how are you feeling?"

"Like crawling under a rock and dying..." she mumbled and tried to hide the embarrassment on her face but Ray wouldn't let her. He bent down as far as he needed to see her face and he sent her an assuring smile.

"I assume Hilary told you about what happened in the living room..." she nodded and Ray continued to smile, "It's not as bad as you think... it was quite entertaining actually."

Naomi now wore an expression of complete horror. She used her hands to cover her face and the long haired male laughed as he walked her to the bed and sat her down.

"It's okay. It's really not that big of a deal. I'm sure no one will remember what happened by tomorrow."

Naomi groaned. That really wasn't a chance she wanted to take. She considered just leaving the dojo so she could go home and sulk in her room but she figured that the eighteen year old kneeling in front of her wasn't about to let her leave. The feline-like male changed his position so that he was now sitting next to Naomi. He gave her a one armed hug and rested his head on top of hers.

"It's really not that bad. I'm sure everyone else is going to do something a lot more embarrassing,"

"Nothing's more embarrassing than dancing like a skank, crawling on a table, acting like a complete idiot and making out with someone in front of everyone at the party..."

"That's not true... Kai wasn't in the room..."

Naomi gave Ray a dreadful look as her eyes went wide and her mouth fell slightly agape.

"Kidding... I was kidding..."

Naomi sighed loudly. She wanted to lie down but she couldn't since Ray still had his arm around her. Instead of pulling away to rest on the bed, Naomi just allowed herself to rest against Ray and even though her cheeks were bright red from blushing she sat really close to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

For a long while, neither of them moved or said anything.

Naomi just continued to rest her head on Ray's shoulder while he ran his fingers up and down her shoulder. She noticed that a fair amount of the blade breakers had a tendency in doing that when they had their arm around someone.

A few more moments passed and Ray finally turned his head to look down at Naomi.

"How's your headache?" he asked curiously. She told him that it was much better and she thanked him for asking. "No problem..." Ray replied.

Silence fell between the two once again as the Chinese male suddenly got to his feet. Naomi looked up at him curiously just before he asked if she wanted to leave the room.

Naomi quickly shook her head no and he understood why. Naomi wasn't able to deal with embarrassment so she didn't want to go back into the living room and have everyone tease her about what had happened earlier. On the other hand, they couldn't stay in his room all night...

"We could go back outside to the yard..." before Naomi could protest to that idea, Ray quickly notified her that they could use one of the dojo side doors to get out into the backyard without anyone seeing them. Naomi paused but agreed to Ray's plan in migrating from his room to the backyard.

He took hold of Naomi's hand and the couple began acting like two spies on a top secret mission as they made their way down the hall and to one of the side doors Ray had been talking about. They slipped through the door with a minimal amount of noise and smiled as they exchanged looks with one another.

They probably looked rather ridiculous trying to sneak out of the dojo without any of their friends catching them.

The Chinese beyblader and his West Indian companion slowly wandered into the dojo's backyard and quickly looked around for a place to relax.

Noticing the hammock, Ray decided that they'd go over there. It was probably best for Naomi to lie down anyway...

They walked over to the hammock and it took a few moments and a lot of struggling but Naomi finally managed to get up into the soft clothed outdoor bed. Since the hammock had more than enough room, Ray climbed in and the couple laughed as they gently swung from side to side.

"I'm so clumsy..." Naomi giggled as she reflected back on her attempt to get into the hammock by herself. She had nearly fallen over and the cat-boy had to swoop in and aid her.

Ray shrugged, "It was kind of funny watching you try to get in by yourself,"

"Oh thanks..." that was the first time he ever heard her use sarcasm. The gold eyed male sent Naomi his fanged smiled and he laid down on his back to stare up though the tree's canopy. The paper lanterns he and Tyson had hung earlier that day sort of looked like fireflies.

"That's kind of pretty..." he said, causing Naomi to look at him and asked what he thought was pretty. "You... You're pretty," he replied and instantly she began to blush.

Naomi brought her hands up to cover her face as she whined and told the cat-boy that she wasn't. He protested and said that she was. They went back and forth like this for a while until Ray finally sat back up and pried Naomi's hands from her face.

"Why don't you think you're pretty?" he blatantly asked her and all Naomi could think of doing was shrugging.

"I don't know... I just don't think so..." she said in that mousy tone of hers. She tried to fight back another blush as she noticed Ray still holding her hands.

"Well... I think so..."

She frowned, "Torah's pretty... Tiky's pretty, Kierra's pretty, Kat's pretty, Toni's pretty, J-Dymez is pretty, LaLa's pretty, Hilary's pretty... they're all really pretty and they all have other things that make them really amazing. Toni and Kat are such great beybladers and they're so confident. Tiky's out going and Torah's silly and fun loving. Kierra's shallow but she's confident too... they all having amazing traits... there's nothing that really makes me special,"

"That's not true..." Ray smiled, "You've got a really beautiful smile. You're really nice, a little too shy at times but I like that about you. You have pretty eyes and your nose ain't so bad either." He lightly poked Naomi on the tip of her nose and she sheepishly smiled.

"You really think so...?"

He nodded, "Of course... not everyone is happy with their appearance. I don't much care for the way I look, just like everyone else has things they don't like about the way they look."

"You don't like the way you look?"

"Well, it's a little hard to explain." He said. Taking a moment to think of a way to properly explain himself, "My eyes are gold, my ears are pointed and I have really long canines," he pointed to his fanged teeth to demonstrate. "I can admit it. I do sort of look like a cat and everyone pokes fun at me for it in one way or another but... I learned to deal with it. It doesn't bother me as much as it did before and even though I wish I could change some things I'm content with the way I look..."

He placed his hands behind his head and returned to lying down in the hammock while Naomi stared down at her hands and began playing with her fingers.

"I wish I was more like you or my teammates... I wish I could be more confident..."

"You really should be..." He said and held out his hand to invite Naomi to lay beside him. After a short pause she made her way over to the cat-boy and laid herself down on his right. "I'm not the only one that thinks you're pretty..."

Naomi was about to ask who else on God's green earth had thought she was attractive but she stopped herself and didn't bother to press the matter. The conversation, although heart warming, was beginning to make her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Thank you..." she said as she looked up through the canopy with the golden eyed Chinese male.

"For what?"

"For thinking I'm pretty..."

Instead of arguing with her by saying that she was pretty Ray just stared up at the sky and told the shy female that she was welcome. As the two of them stared up into the dark starry sky they could hear their friends loudly playing music from inside the dojo.

Since they were both so quiet, they could hear the lyrics very clearly.

_You would not believe Your Eyes_  
><em>If Ten Million Fireflies<em>  
><em>Light Up the World As I Fell Asleep<em>  
><em>Cause They Fill the Open Air<em>  
><em>and Leave Teardrops everywhere<em>  
><em>you'd Think me Rude<em>  
><em>But I Would Just Stand and stare...<em>

As they listened to the song, Naomi and Ray subconsciously began singing along.

Ray & Naomi:

_I'd like to make myself believe...  
>That Planet earth... Turns... Slowly<br>it's Hard to Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep  
>Cause Everything Is Never as It Seems<em>

_Cause I'd get a thousand hugs  
>from Ten Thousand Lightning Bugs<br>As They Tried to Teach Me How to Dance_

_A Foxtrot above My head  
>A Sock hop Beneath My Bed<br>A Disco Ball is just hanging by A thread..._

_I'd like to make myself believe...  
>That Planet earth... Turns... Slowly<br>it's Hard to Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep  
>Cause Everything Is Never as It Seems<em>

_When I Fall Asleep..._

_Leave My Door Open just a crack_

_Please Take Me Away From Here..._

_Cause I Feel like Such an Insomniac_

_Please Take Me Away From Here..._

_Why Do I Tire of Counting Sheep_

_Please Take Me Away From Here..._

_When I'm far Too Tired to Fall Asleep_

_To Ten Million Fireflies  
>I'm Weird Cause I Hate Goodbyes<br>I Got Misty Eyes As They Said Farewell  
>But I'll Know Where Several Are<br>If My Dreams Get Real Bizarre  
>Cause I Saved a Few and I keep them in a Jar<em>

_I'd like to make myself believe...  
>That Planet earth... Turns... Slowly<br>It's Hard to Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep  
>Cause Everything Is Never as It Seems<em>

_When I Fall Asleep_

_I'd like to make myself believe...  
>That Planet earth... Turns... Slowly<br>It's Hard to Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep  
>Cause Everything Is Never as It Seems<em>

_When I Fall Asleep..._

_I'd like to make myself believe...  
>That Planet earth... Turns... Slowly<br>It's Hard to Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep_

_Because My Dreams Are Bursting at the Seams..._

Loud giggling forced the two to sit up and look to see where it was coming from. Toni and Tyson were the first to appear in their sights and they were soon followed by Brooklyn, LaLa, Torah, Tiky, Kierra, Max, Kenny, Mystel, Garland and Kat.

Tyson and Toni hurried towards the two teenagers in the hammock and jumped as soon as they were close enough to notice them. They both began laughing as they asked Ray and Naomi what they were doing outside all alone.

Ignoring the subliminal question, Ray informed the two that they were star gazing.

"Star gazing?" Tyson's speech was slightly slurred so the couple in the hammock had to assume he had consumed more alcohol after he had sobered up. "BOOORRR-ING!" he laughed, causing a tipsy Toni to giggle along with him.

"Mind if we join you're 'star gazing'?" the short Guyanese girl asked, using air quotations to wrap around star gazing.

"Don't see the harm in it," the Chinese boy said nonchalantly as he went back to staring up at the sky.

Since Naomi and Ray were already in the hammock, helping to weight it in place, Toni and Tyson had less of a struggling time mounting it, which was fairly surprising since they had stumbled to just walk around it to get to the other side.

As soon as the navy haired Japanese male and the chestnut brown haired female hoisted themselves into the outdoor bed they tried to keep their giggling to a minimum but it was still fairly loud. They weren't sure if Ray or Naomi really mined since neither voiced any complaints.

Torah and Tiky soon made their way over to the hammock. They sent Ray and Naomi curious looks but quickly returned their focus towards Toni and Tyson. The two younger members of the Sweet and Sour Candies team pointed warning fingers towards the chuckling couple then pointed to their eyes.

"We're watching you," Torah warned in a joking matter, causing Tiky to laugh and nod.

"Don't let us catch you in that closet again. You got that?" Tiky added in.

Naomi and Ray exchanged glances just before turning their heads to look over at Tyson and Toni then back to look at Torah and Tiky.

"Catch them doing what?" Ray asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Those two," Torah began, pointing her finger at the accused parties, "We're getting a little too friendly in the closet. We caught them twice!"

"Yeah," Tiky added once again "And the third time we went to kick them out of there, we found Brooklyn sucking face with LaLa!" the European mix quickly turned around to warn the other accused couple that she and Torah would be watching them as well.

"Even got pictures..." the blue eyed Jamaican/Bajan girl shook her head as she showed Ray and Naomi the images in Kierra's camera. They had almost forgotten to take pictures and now they had some rather incriminating photos to look at tomorrow.

Naomi covered her mouth with shock and surprise as Ray merely laughed and shook his head at the tipsy couple beside them.

"Player haters!" was all Tyson said before turning to kiss Toni once again. Torah snapped a quick photo and gave the couple a stern but joking look.

"That's number three..." she informed.

The red eyed world beyblading champion childishly stuck his tongue out at Torah and Tiky and told them to take pictures of the other wild life in the yard. The two shrugged as Torah pointed the camera at Ray and Naomi and said; "Smile kitty!"

Ray rolled his eyes as Torah took the picture.

Naomi frowned at her sister as she remembered what Ray had said during their conversation. The purple eyed female sat up and firmly stated that Torah as well as everyone else's jokes towards Ray were inappropriate.

The cat-boy smiled as Torah and Tiky gave Naomi stunned looks.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't poke fun at him so much..." the shy beyblader said. Torah and Tiky continued to give her stunned looks but they agreed not to poke fun at Ray any more. Torah warned that another cat joke was bound to slip out again sooner or later.

Ray shrugged, "its okay. Sort of had to get use to it..." he turned to Naomi and quietly whispered a thank you.

"You're welcome..." Naomi whispered back with a smile.

"Whatever..." Torah said as she prepared to take another picture. "Alright Bruce Lee, let's have a pretty picture of you and Iman the supermodel!"

"Say; 'I wanna bang the person beside meeee!" Tiky exclaimed.

Ray ignored the silly brunette but sat up so Torah could take he and Naomi's picture. He placed his arm around her and just as the blue eyed sienna skinned female was about to take the picture, Ray held Naomi's chin between his thumb and fingers as he kissed her on the cheek.

Torah quickly snapped the photo as Tiky squealed and Toni and Tyson whoo'ed. She turned the camera so Tiky could get a better view of the image and the two gave each other a high five. Ray began to chuckle as Naomi stared aimlessly wide eyed into space.

"Now that's a picture," Tiky smiled as Torah prepared to take another one.

"Alright let's do that again before Mother Teresa's nose starts bleeding. SMILE!"

Both Ray and Naomi finally smiled and Torah had finally gotten the shot she had been looking for from them.

"Great. Now let's go and see if we can get some images of me makin' out with the hot Egyptian kid." Tiky said.

"Girl, you nasty... Let's go!" Torah exclaimed as the two friends turned on their heels and ran off.

Ray returned to lying on his back and looking up at the stars and Naomi followed suit. She made sure Tyson and Toni couldn't hear her speak as she asked what that had all been about. She was referring to the fact that Ray had kissed her on the cheek.

The Chinese youth shrugged as he smiled at the doe eyed nymph. "I guess you can say its pay back for catching me off guard in the living room, also, I landed on you when we were playing spin the bottle. You may have kissed me but _I_ was supposed to kiss _you_..."

* * *

><p>This sure is pillow-y soft because there's a whole lot of FLUFF! LoL but you all love it!<p>

Ray and Naomi are just precious aren't they?

And WHOA Kai... Just whoa! Confusing much? You can't just tell a girl that you don't know if you have feelings for her then kiss her! That's messed up! Hmm, wonder what's going through Hilary's mind... but then again... would you question the awesome forces that brought Kai to you and make him want to make out with you?

I wouldn't...

LoL but hey, alcohol makes you do some messed up stuff... Naomi knows that. LMAO


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Hilary wanted to sit down.

She just wanted to take a seat and mull over everything so she could make sense of it all. Her head, as well as the room, was beginning to spinning because so much was going through her brain so fast that it was actually giving her a little bit of motion sickness.

Indeed, Hilary wanted to sit down and think but at the same time, she didn't want the bizarre bliss she was ravelled in to end.

She had her fingers entangled in Kai's thick blue-grey locks with her eyes closed and her lips pressed against his. He had his arms wrapped loosely around her torso and to her... it was just sheer bliss.

But suddenly, Hilary snapped her eyes open. Why was this happening? This was so very... unlike Kai. Sure, Hilary knew that - when alcohol was involved - Kai became a significantly more friendly person but this was just too much.

They were making out in the bathroom for God sake.

Beginning to think that this was some sort of cosmic joke, Hilary pulled away and pushed Kai back. He let out an irritable grunt but Hilary ignored it. She wanted answers and she wanted them now.

"What are we doing?" she asked and for a moment, Kai stared at her as if he didn't understand what she was asking.

His blank stare was soon replaced with him knitting his eyebrows together as he nonchalantly answered: "Kissing..."

The way he said it, couldn't help but force a sarcastic look to form on Hilary's face but she honestly couldn't help but feel slightly foolish. She had walked into that one.

"That's not what I mean. I mean... why are we kissing?"

Once again, he gave her a look as if he didn't understand her question. Hilary was about to reword her question when Kai suddenly decided to answer and say: "back at your house... You wanted to kiss me, so I let you,"

Hilary nodded. That made sense but talking to Kai while he was in this state was proposing to be more difficult than Hilary imagined so she figured that she was going to have to speak rather slow and very distinctive. She also had another question.

"Then... why did you kiss me? After I kissed you, you kissed me... twice..."

For a moment, neither of them spoke but the way Kai was looking at Hilary told her that he was trying to think of what to say. She was expecting the worse but was hoping for the best. Something she told herself never to do but she really couldn't help it.

"It's different."

Hilary's face went completely blank. "Different? How is it different?"

He furrowed his eyebrows together as he said: "Its... just different,"

Hilary couldn't help but sigh as she pulled away from Kai completely and rested up against the shower door. She ran her palms down her face and sighed once again as she asked the same question she had a few days ago.

"How do you feel about me? Do you still not know or..." she left the question open as she looked up at him sheepishly.

There was another pause of silence but this time, Hilary couldn't handle the quiet.

"Kai please... you have to explain all of this to me because honestly..." she took a moment to calm herself as she noticed her version began to blur. Tears were threatening to surface but she fought them back by blinking her eyes, "I need to understand whats going on in your head..."

Hilary's statement was met with more silence and she suddenly felt it hard to breathe. The brown eyed female closed her eyes, inhaled deeply and slowly counted to ten in her mind in order to calm herself. It was bad enough she had had a panic attack in Kai's presence, she wasn't about to have another one.

"Say something..." She said harshly. It sounded more like an order than a request but there was no taking back her tone so why did it matter. He needed to say something before she could lose her composure completely.

"I don't know..."

Those same three, painful words... of course.

Hilary balled her fists at her sides as she heard him say this. She flinched as if someone had physically hurt her but the pain she was feeling now was equivalent to that of a physical assault.

"I'm not sure..." It sounded as if he was trying to spare her feelings by using a different set of words but it really all meant the same thing, not to mention the damage was already done.

Instead of feeling immensely sad, Hilary was suddenly being overcome with anger. She feverishly ran her fingers through her hair as she looked up at Kai and began saying everything that suddenly came to mind.

"Then what the hell was all that about? I don't understand. We almost kiss, then you shoot me down, then you _ACTUALLY_ kiss me but again, you shoot me down! I _don't_ understand. I don't understand, please just... explain! Explain why you think its fair to play with me like that?!"

"I'm not playing with you Hilary."

"Really? It sure feels that way! Could you please explain to me, cause I'm very confused..."

This time, it was Kai feverishly running his hands through his hair. He couldn't gather the words he wanted and he couldn't think straight. He knew Hilary wanted an answer he just couldn't think of how to answer her and it was irking his nerves.

Deciding to give up on trying all together, Kai repeated himself and told Hilary that he just didn't know how he felt and that was it for her. She tried to get pass the half Russian but he placed both his palms flat against the shower door and boxed her in by having his hands on either side of her shoulders.

"Hilary. Don't..."

"Don't? Don't what? I'm not doing anything!" she snapped. The tears had broken loose but Hilary didn't care, all she wanted to do at the moment was leave or at least find a place she could hide in until one of her parents came and got her. "Please... I can't be here anymore... I need to leave..."

The Japanese brunette swiftly ducked under Kai's arm and headed for the bathroom door to make her escape. Kai was on her tail in a matter of seconds but Hilary continued to speed her way down the hall, she was trying to think of the best place to hide or at least get away from him when he suddenly got a hold on her wrist.

He pulled her to a stop and the brunette turned to look at him. Hilary wanted to break free of Kai's grasp and run off but honestly, she didn't have the strength. Her legs suddenly felt like concrete and her body was overcome with weariness.

She never thought being so emotionally tormented would be so exhausting.

"We need to talk," Kai said and Hilary tilted her head back as a new wave of tears came careening down her face. She wanted to state that she was done with talking to him for the night but the words just didn't want to come out. "I... I don't know what to say... I know you like me but... I don't know how I feel about you... I like you but I'm not sure its in the same way you like me..."

Finally, Kai was able to speak the words he had meant to say in the bathroom but it honestly wasn't going to do any good.

Too tired to stand anymore, Hilary took a seat on the floor. Kai continued to stand as well as hold onto Hilary's wrist.

"I figured... I always thought that but... when we hung out that day at my house and when you kissed me, I thought..." her voice trailed off and she suddenly found the strength to tear herself out of Kai's grasp. "I can't do this right now..."

"Hn..." was all he could really think of saying.

Hilary sighed heavily as she forced herself back up onto her feet, "For the past three days... I've been driving myself insane over all this and I'm tired. Its all too much and I can't wrap my head around it... I need to leave,"

"Hilary-"

"Don't... please... just leave it alone. No need to stab someone and pour salt in the wound when they're already in so much pain,"

"I'm not doing this on purpose!"

Hilary decided to ignore Kai completely as she slowly began dragging herself back down the hallway. She knew she wasn't going fast enough to escape but it didn't stop her from trying. The slate haired male was in front of her in no time and placed his hands on Hilary's shoulders to cease her slow progression away from him.

"Look, I understand why you're mad okay! Just let me figure this out..." He paused and noticed that Hilary was staring down at the floor between them. Kai placed his hands on her cheeks and forced Hilary to look up at him.

Their eyes locked. Byzantium purple staring into Chocolate Brown and for some reason this made Kai lose his train of thought. Instead of attempting to get his mind back on track, the face painted male just decided to pull Hilary in and bring his lips to hers again.

Hilary wanted to pull away but she was just too tired. There was no fighting him so the brunette just decided to let her mind go blank.

It was better than having everything that was going on in her head flood her psyche and make her sick.

As Hilary's mind cleared she found herself swept back up in the motions again. She wrapped her arms around Kai's neck and he in turn wrapped his around her torso. He pulled Hilary as close to him as possible and the two stood there, silently lip locking in the hallway once again.

As the two briefly pulled away from one another, Hilary looked up at her crush and sighed.

"You're driving me crazy..." she murmured but Kai's only response was another kiss.

* * *

><p>Tyson and Toni stumbled their way through the dojo, laughing every time one of them tripped over their own feet. They weren't fully drunk but they still managed to find absolutely everything hilarious.<p>

As the couple trekked their way towards the front of the house. Tyson came to an abrupt stop in front of the hallway that led to the bedrooms. Toni managed to walk a few more steps before noticing that Tyson was no longer beside her.

The Guyanese female turned to the navy haired male and cocked an eyebrow as she giggled and asked why he had stopped walking.

Tyson didn't answer her question since he was too busy staring down the hallway with his mouth agape. The World Champ had caught sight of Hilary and Kai leaning up against the wall, engrossed in a serious lip lock. Neither of them seemed to notice Tyson's presence but he was beginning to seriously question if what he was seeing was real or an alcohol induced hallucination.

"I... think I drank to much..." Tyson stated as he shook his head and decided to continue on his journey with the five foot three nymph.

He and Toni linked arms as they made their way out onto the veranda. Toni hopped up to sit on the railing while Tyson merely leaned over it.

"I swear I just saw Hilary and Kai making out!" Tyson stated as he glanced up at Toni. She laughed then shrugged.

"Don't worry about it! Just hope they don't get freaky in your room,"

Tyson shuttered at the thought, "Ew!"

At this, the couple began to chuckle. Toni almost fell of the porch railings from laughing so hard but she was able to stabilize herself by gripping onto Tyson's shoulders. The beyblading champion took hold of Toni's waist and the two began to laugh harder.

"You're gonna fall," he smiled as he wrapped his arms around Toni's waisted and pulled her towards him. Although she was sitting up on the railings, they were exactly at eye level.

"I'm not gonna fall," Toni snorted as she loosely threw her arms over Tyson's shoulders. "Besides, I've got you holding me..."

Tyson smirked, "Um hmm," as he leaned in to kiss the dark tan brown skinned female but instead of kissing her lips, like he had intended too, Tyson kissed Toni's nose.

"Dumb ass," she laughed as she cupped his face and guided him to her mouth. He pressed his lips against hers and the two of them silently smooch in the summer's eve.

Although it was fairly warm out, Toni's exposed skin was suddenly overcome with goosebumps. She shivered and this made Tyson's wrap his arms around her tighter.

It would have been a rather intimate moment, if it wasn't for Tyson's wandering hands. He moved his hands to Toni's backside and she instantly pulled away as soon as she felt him grab her behind.

"Whoa! Back up. You can't just be grabbin' me like that! It's not that kind of party,"

Tyson grumbled and rolled his eyes as he felt Toni pry his hands off of her rear end. He fought back against her grasp but Toni had a firm hold in preventing him from putting his hands back on her.

"Oh come on! Just let me cop one feel!"

Toni furrowed her eyebrows together as she forced Tyson's hands back to his sides, "No! I don't know you like that!"

"Didn't stop you from putting your tongue down my throat," The Flau red eyed male teased as he quickly stole himself a kiss but displeased with Tyson's comment, Toni shoved him away from her.

"I did _NOT_ put my tongue down you're throat!"

"Oh, _SOR_-ry, what I meant to say was ALMOST put your tongue down my throat,"

"Don't play with me Tyson!"

"If anyone's playing with anyone, it's you! Do you know how many girls would kill to be you right now?"

Toni made a face at him and snorted with disgust, "Then why don't you go find one of them and grab up on her!? You asshole!"

"Ugh! Why are you so stubborn?!"

"Why are you such an asshole?! You're so arrogant; _Ooh, look at me, I'm the world champ, you totally want me in your pants_,"

"Don't act like it isn't true,"

Toni's jaw went slack as she heard Tyson say this. She shoved him in the shoulders again to force him away from her enough so that she could slid off the railings, back onto the veranda. She narrowed her forest green eyes up at Tyson and sternly stated that she in fact didn't not want to sleep with Tyson and that it would never happen, even if she was a million times more drunk than she was now.

"Bullshit!" Tyson snorted, "You like me, I like you. I'm not saying we should go to home base or anything! For once can we just not argue?!"

"I wouldn't have to argue if you just thought before you spoke!"

Tyson rolled his eyes and grunted as Toni pushed him out of her way. The petite beyblader walked down the porch steps and Tyson followed a heated path behind her.

"Quit acting like you don't like me. I'm tired of your crap!"

"My crap!?" She spun around on her heels and Tyson nearly collided with her. "You're so full of shit that we should sell you to farms as manure!"

"Oh, I'm full of shit? Kiss me Tyson- Leave me alone Tyson- Kiss me Tyson, just make up your goddamn mind!"

She rolled her eyes and turned back around to walk away, "There's no talking to you!"

"I'm getting pretty damn tired of people saying that..." The red eyed youth mumbled as he followed behind Toni. He had to speed up a little bit to catch up to her but as soon as he was walking beside her, Tyson placed his hand on Toni's shoulder to get her attention.

She swatted his hand away but it still was able to stop her from continuing on with walking away.

"Just be honest with me! Do you like me for real or are you just being a total bitch and stringing me on for no reason?"

"I'm not stringing you on!" She hadn't intended on admitting anything but Tyson's brash and outlandish way in getting information had caught her off guard.

"Ha! So you do like me!" Tyson put on a smug smirk as Toni tried figuring out what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell Tyson to just piss off and drop it but he had a point. She always seemed to play this childish push me pull me game and it was probably time for it to end.

With a defeated grumble and in a low angry tone, Toni admitted to Tyson that she did indeed have some form of attraction to him. His smug smile grew larger but he said nothing, and this seemed to anger Toni more than the fact that he didn't have something conceited to say.

The captain of the Sweet and our Candies begrudgingly folded her arms over her chest as she rolled her forest green eyes and averted her gaze down towards her feet.

"I hope you're fucking satisfied..." he griped.

"I am," Tyson admitted, still wearing that triumphant grin. He slowly began to circle around Toni and this made her even more irritable. "Was that so hard?"

"Excruciating..."

"Oh ha ha..." Tyson mockingly laughed as he stopped circling the short female. "You really need to lighten up."

"Don't start acting like you know stuff about me, cause you don't!"

"I would if you talked to me, as much as I wanna make out, I'm up for just talking to you! I like you Toni, and I want to get to know you,"

For once, Toni had nothing to say. She and Tyson stared at one another in silence, until Toni finally turned to look away. She still had nothing to say and this made Tyson cock an eyebrow at her.

"What the hell? First you have something to say about everything now you're not talking at all! I don't get you females and your overactive hormones,"

Toni shot Tyson an icy glare from the corner of her eyes that shut him up as well. Once again, the two stood in silence as Toni began mulling over something Kat had said sometime before their last beyblade match.

Toni was never one to open up to people and she really didn't feel like starting now but the way Tyson kept pushing her and pushing her to do so was making it surprisingly hard to keep to herself. She knew it was never a good idea to keep things bottle up but there were reasons to her closed bottle behaviour.

"Pain in the ass..." she grunted and slowly headed for the bench over at the side of the dojo. She and Tyson took a seat and silently sat down. Toni stared down at the grass while Tyson continued looking at her. He kept a fair distance away since he wasn't sure if Toni was suddenly go to take a swipe at him or not. If she decided to, he wanted to make sure he had enough room to get away in time.

"How have you all been doing this?" Toni asked and Tyson's raised an eyebrow at her. She looked at him, and gathered that he had no idea what she was talking about. "How has your team won us all over? We barely know you guys and were over here all the time, the girls always wanna talk about you guys... we've even paired off! I barely know you and we've already made out over five times! That shit ain't natural,"

Tyson shrugged as he smirked and learned back on his hands, "It's because I'm such a stud,"

"Don't make me hurt you..."

The blue haired champ began to chuckle, causing Toni to smile as well. This was the most Toni had ever opened up to anyone other than her teammates and it actually felt quite liberating. She wasn't going to pour her heart out to Tyson but maybe she'd actually share a little bit about herself with him... only if he asked the right questions.

"I don't do this often so you better savour this little triumph but... since we're sharing and you're so damn curious... what do you wanna know?"

* * *

><p>The vibration of her phone was what jumped Hilary out of her and Kai's kiss. She couldn't pull away very far since Kai had his hands and fingers intertwined with the long tuffs of hair above the nape of Hilary's neck but she had enough room to reach into her pocket to check her call display.<p>

The first three times her cell phone had gone off, both she and Kai had ignored them but as soon as Hilary figured that the persistent caller was probably one of her parents, the brunette decided it was time for her to answer.

"It's my parents. Hold on," Hilary said as she quickly placed a hand over Kai's mouth and just as she was about to answer the annoyingly relentless ringing, Kai swiped the phone from Hilary's grasp and removed her hand from his mouth.

He was able to check the call display before Hilary was able to snatch her phone back.

He rolled his eyes and grunted as he pulled away from the brunette and took a place beside her instead of remaining in front of her.

Hilary could tell Kai was displeased with the fact that her parents were calling but she knew there would be hell to pay if she didn't answer them. It was bad enough that she had already ignored three of their calls.

"Hello?" Hilary greeted as she answered the cellular device.

"Hilary! It's your mother! I've called you four times, why didn't you pick up?"

"I..." She glanced at Kai briefly before answering, "I was distracted..."

"You called us. Is everything alright?"

Hilary furrowed her eyebrows together. She didn't at all remember calling her parents so she had to assume that she had butt dialled them.

"Oh! Um... it was nothing... "

"Are you sure? Maybe I should send your father to come and pick you up. It's getting late,"

"No, no, it's fine mom. I can have someone drop me home,"

"It's not going to be Kai is it?"

That's when the half Russian turned his head to look at the brown haired female beside him. He sneered and asked what the hell Hilary's mother meant by that.

"Who was that?" Mrs. Tachibana asked and Hilary covered the cell phone's mouth piece so that her mother couldn't hear her.

"Shh! She can hear you,"

"Then tell her to stop being such a loud bitch." Kai grumbled.

Hilary giggled but couldn't help but shove Kai in the ribs with her elbow. She told him to be quiet once again before removing her hand from the over the mouth piece and stating to her mother that the voice belonged to no one.

"It's getting late Hilary, I'm sending your father to get you. Be ready." With that, Mrs. Tachibana hung up the phone.

Hilary grumbled as she hung up the phone as well.

"Damn it," she groaned as she shoved her cell phone back into her pocket. The brunette ran her hands down her face with annoyance as the fact that she had to leave in approximately twenty minutes began sinking in.

She groaned again. As confused as she may have been, Hilary couldn't help but be somewhat pleased with the situation. Not only had she gotten her first kiss but it was actually with the one person she adored more than any other male that she knew.

As painstaking as it was for her to get to this moment, Hilary was indeed pleased.

To bad it had to end and she'd have to go back to dealing with Kai's inability to properly access his feelings towards her... perfect...

Without a word, Hilary got to her feet and Kai followed suit. He cocked an eyebrow at her, silently asking where she was rushing off to and with a frown Hilary answered that she had to get ready to leave.

The face painted male grunted but said nothing else.

* * *

><p>Hilary received a notification call from her father, telling her that he was pulling into the Blade breakers driveway.<p>

The brunette ended the call and turned to face Kai as she prepared to slip on her shoes.

They hadn't spoken since Hilary had informed him that her father was on his way to pick her up but the Japanese female knew that something had to be said before she left for the night.

"Kai..." She began. He had been looking at her the whole time but she felt it necessary to call his name to make sure he was listening. He was so easily distracted while intoxicated. "Can you do me a favour...?"

The slate haired young man nodded.

"Can you... figure out how you feel about me. It's important... I don't want to keep doing this if you're not interested. I'm not..." She paused to think of the proper word, "...easy..."

It took Kai a while to interpret what Hilary had meant by easy but once he figured it out he shook his head and leaned against the wall beside the front door.

"I don't think you're a slut Hilary..."

She wasn't sure why but the word; slut, made Hilary shiver.

The vibration of her cell phone made Hilary jump again for the second time that night and she knew it was a sign for her to make haste. Her father was waiting outside and she really didn't want him coming to the Blade breakers door and possibly embarrassing her.

"I've got to go..." Hilary notified but for a few more moments all she and Kai did was stand there and stare at one another.

It wasn't until Kai outstretched his hands did she beginning moving again. The brunette accepted the hug and gave him a gentle squeeze before pulling away and saying goodbye. With that, Hilary was out the door.

* * *

><p>The Japanese brunette was making her way over to the driveway when she caught sight of Toni and Tyson at the side of the house. The two were chuckling and Toni had her fingers intertwined with Tyson as she tried forcing the navy haired beyblader away from her.<p>

Hilary wasn't sure what the couple was up too but she smiled anyway. At least they weren't arguing like she expected them to be for most of the night.

She slipped into her father's car and the two drove off, leaving the party behind them.

Toni was about ready to twist Tyson's arm to get him to back off but he finally broke through her defences and trapped her by wrapping his arms around her. Locking her arms to her sides.

"You're opening up to me," Tyson stated smugly as he annoyingly began placing kisses all over Toni's face.

"I told you my birthday and favourite colour! It's not like I'm readin' my diary to you!" Toni snapped as she tried forcing Tyson off of her. She found his aimless overjoyed actions to be irritating but she couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"You will, because you love me so much,"

She rolled her eyes but smiled."Can't tell you anything..."

Tyson merely shrugged and finally released his grip on the short young female. He had made a significant amount of progress with Toni. Even though he had pretty much asked her simple ice breaking questions, she gave out much more information that he had expected... at one point he thought she was lying but the free and light look that flashed in her fiery green eyes told him that every word she spoke was the truth.

As of right now Tyson officially knew;

Toni's birthday is Oct 25th, making her a Scorpio. He wasn't surprised since the aspects of a Scorpio seemed to match Toni's personality to a tee.

Her favourite colour was red and her favourite food was Guyanese curry chicken roti. She was relucant to share information about what she feared but Tyson was able to gather that Toni had fears of failing in any way, shape or form.

Tyson also learned that other than Beyblading, Toni's hobbies included; dancing and/or clubbing. She liked rainy days - only if she was inside to enjoy the rain, not stuck out in them- and she also enjoyed making foods that belonged to her African/Indo-Guyanese culture.

It killed her to admit it but Toni also notified Tyson that she was one of his biggest fans when he first appeared on the international beyblading scene. She said she wasn't one of those die-hard fangirl types but she really did admire his unique style of blading.

"Was it me that inspired you to become a beyblader?" The World Champion asked, in a gloating sort of tone. Toni rolled her eyes at his smugness but smiled and nodded.

"Partly... I wanted to be like you once. I wanted to be the underdog that everyone underestimated then ended up cheering for as she made her way to the top but..." she trailed off as she realized just how far her confessions were going.

Tyson already knew the basics, what more could he want?

"Don't stop! Go on," he urged and Toni frowned. Apparently what she had told him just wasn't enough. She had found it slightly liberating to share some personal information with Tyson but there were lines she just didn't cross and she had almost crossed it but now Tyson was pushing her to it.

"Never mind. It's not that important." She stated and nonchalantly shrugged.

Tyson groaned as he puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. He knew he was going to hit Toni's emotional wall again sooner or later but he was hoping it too be much later than sooner. He began poking the Sweet and Sour Candies leader in the ribs and ordered her to continue her story.

Toni took hold of the finger Tyson kept poking her with and swatted his hand away.

"I said it isn't important. Let it go."

Puffing out his cheeks again like a blowfish, Tyson began looked Toni in the eyes and asked her if he told her his dreams, would she tell him hers.

Toni's eyebrows slopped together as she asked Tyson what else he could possibly want in life. He was famous, probably very wealthy and wanted by obsessed fan females all over the world.

He laughed as soon as Toni had finished saying this but he shrugged, "It's great and all and I never want to stop beyblading but there's other things I want to do. Sometimes I kind of just want to be normal. I don't mind when fans come up to me and ask for autographs and stuff but sometimes I kinda just wanna be left alone. I want to do what normal teenagers do without being followed of bugged,"

"Like goin' to school or something?"

Tyson snorted; "I'm officially done with school! I don't ever want to do that again..."

Toni smirked as she looked up towards the sky. She leaned back onto her hands and Tyson did the same.

"I've never liked school that much myself... too full of fakes and assholes... especially high school,"

Tyson shrugged, "Never went... well... we did once for about a week then we ended up having to leave. I have no idea why but there's always some crazy people out to steal our bit beast or take the title of the world's greatest beyblading team."

The two eighteen year olds laughed and Toni shrugged.

"Some people just want a shot at the title..."

"Do you?"

"...Can't say it hasn't crossed my mind,"

She was opening up again but she was keeping things vague.

"I know you don't like mainstream beybladers but... why? I don't really get why you hate us so much,"

"I don't hate all mainstream bladers," Toni began as she suddenly got to her feet and turned to smirk down at Tyson as she lazily placed her hands on her hips. "That's a story for another time,"

"Aw man! Come on, I spilled my guts!" Tyson whined as he followed Toni back into the dojo.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

When Hilary and her father arrived back to the Tachibana household, the spunky brunette ran into the house and began heading upstairs to quickly grab a few things before jumping into the shower.

On the way home, Mr. Tachibana had smelled the alcohol emanating from Hilary and asked his eighteen year old daughter if she had been drinking. Hilary lied and said that she hadn't and that one of the people at the party had accidentally spilt some on her.

Her father bought the story but Hilary knew her mother would not be as easily fooled, that was why she was rushing to take a shower. She hadn't drank as much as she planned to at the party but that really didn't matter. Scrubbing herself clean of the liquor smell was what was important for the time being.

The brown eyed female was able to get a fresh change of clothes out of her room as she bolted for her bathroom.

As she attempted to shut and lock the door, Hilary heard her mother's voice just down the hall, calling out to her. Hilary slammed the door shut and locked it but she answered her mother's beckoning call.

The brunette quickly undressed and threw all her party clothes in the hamper as she heard her mother knock feverishly on her bathroom door.

"Hilary... are you alright, sweetheart?"

"Never better!" the brunette fibbed. She mustered the most chipper tone of voice but just as she figured, everything that had been bothering her for the past few days, not to mention her more recent complications came flooding back into her mind like water over a fall.

Mrs. Tachibana attempted to let herself into Hilary's bathroom, but as soon as she realized Hilary had locked it, the elder female began knocking on the door again. Asking for entry.

"Mom!" Hilary whined, "I'm going to take a shower!"

"It'll only take a second!"

"Can we talk AFTER, I bathe?"

There was a moment of pause but Mrs. Tachibana agreed to Hilary's terms and told the eighteen year old that they would have a little talk as soon as she was done with her shower. Mrs. Tachibana then made her way back towards her and Mr. Tachibana's room.

With a heavy-hearted sigh, Hilary climbed into the shower and allowed the extremely warm water to beat against her skin before taking her wash cloth and some liquid body wash to clean herself.

* * *

><p>Kenny was sitting on the steps of the back porch with a half empty glass in hand. He wasn't sure exactly as to what Tyson had given him to drink but he knew most of the contents were vodka.<p>

The glasses wearing beyblade engineer never found himself to be much of a drinker but there was no way in saying no to Tyson and his overtly pushy attitude. After trying Tyson's concoction, Kenny found that he actually didn't mind the taste but it wasn't something he'd drink regularly.

The short male took a short sip from his cup as he quickly scanned the backyard. Everyone that had been invited to the party were constantly moving and only a few people remained outside, or at least that was what the intelligent male gathered.

He also noticed that most of the people in his sights were boy-girl couplings.

He was rather tipsy and he didn't mean to start observing everyone like they were specimen but Kenny really couldn't help it. Some of these couples were obvious but some were rather fascinating.

His eyes rested on J-Dymez and Hiro. A fairly obvious couple. He had seen that one coming since the day he and the other Blade breakers had gone over to the girls' house.

Ray and Naomi were next. This pairing seemed to confuse Kenny a little bit. They were very friendly towards one another but Ray was generally a friendly person. Naomi was a very sweet girl herself but also very shy. She was even shyer than him...

Overall, Kenny had no idea as to what to conclude about them. They could just be friends but there could have also been something a bit lustful between the two.

He didn't want to pry but if he wanted a conclusion, he'd have to observe them much more than he was now.

The beyblade engineer moved to Brooklyn but skipped over him quickly. He and The Sweet and Sour Candies' friend LaLa had had a moment in the closet but that probably wasn't going anywhere. Just a couple of drunk teenagers swapping spit.

Garland and Kat...

Kenny couldn't help but slight cock a brow at that one. They were a pairing that blind-sighted everyone. He was sure many of the people at the party didn't catch it but when he saw the couple lean forward to share a short peck he had almost choked on his drink.

He wasn't watching them - not when they were kissing anyway - It was sort of those things that you saw but didn't mean to see...

Kenny couldn't really conclude anything from Kat and Garland either since he didn't know either of them very well but for the past hour and a half, neither of them had left each other's side.

Maybe that would go somewhere, but once again, he wasn't sure.

The glasses wearing teenager then began to access the others that currently weren't in his sight.

Toni and Tyson. Another obvious couple but they always seemed to fight like a cat and a dog. Those two were caught up in some sort of theoretical provocative dance. They bickered constantly but there was no denying that Tyson and Toni were infatuated with one another.

Then there was Max and Torah...

They seemed like an odd couple at first but it made sense really... They had overall the same likes and dislikes, as well as the fact that they had been texting each other, nonstop for the past week. Unlike most of the couples though, they didn't seem as physical.

Kenny finished the last of his beverage and stared aimlessly into the glass as he thought about everyone else. Kai and Hilary had disappeared somewhere and no one seemed to know why.

Kenny knew there was some sort of unspoken tension between the two but he paid it no mind. Daichi had been missing since the beginning of the party and God only knew where he was at this time of night...

Mystel had fallen asleep inside so there were no worries as to what shenanigans the Egyptian blader would be up too.

Tiky... an odd but very likable girl. She was attractive and had a very fresh air around her that no one could possibly hate.

Then there was Kierra...

Kenny blushed. She was also a very likable girl and he found her to be very pretty. He was surprised someone that looked like Kierra was so good with the intricate works of a beyblade but that's what added to her attractiveness.

She was silly and sometimes said rather foolish things but he did indeed take a fondness towards her.

Kenny's cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red as he recalled the spin the bottle kiss he and Kierra had shared. It was unexpected and he couldn't help but be somewhat embarrassed with the fact that his first kiss had been taken over a game.

But when he really thought about it, he had to be somewhat proud. His first kiss was not only with an extremely attractive female but one that was into engineering, like he was.

Also, Kierra reminded him a little bit of Ming-Ming. A bit self-centered but that seemed to be his type... or at least most of the girls he was attracted to.

The brunette male finally got to his feet and decided that he'd head inside and watch some television. It wouldn't be long until the party ended and he might as well make himself comfortable since he was spending the night.

Maybe he'd even figure out where Max and Tyson had run off too but he assumed Tyson probably wasn't in a mood to be disturbed. He hadn't heard Toni and Tyson's bickering voices for a while now so they were either asleep or making out...

Kenny made his way back into the dojo and walked over to the dish washer to put his glass in it. He knew none of the Blade breakers would want to do the dishes in the morning so it was the best option for his empty glass.

As soon as he was finished with closing the dish washer he heard someone stumble into the kitchen. Kenny turned to look towards the eatery's doorway and stopped Kierra stumbling her way in.

"Aw! They're not here either!" the green eyed female whined as she looked around the kitchen.

The glasses wearing engineer figured she was looking for Tiky and Torah since they seemed to be her partners in crime but he froze as she looked at him and smiled. She gleefully waved and skipped over to him.

"Hi kenny!" she beamed and he could feel himself blushing again.

"H-Hi..." he stammered and his nervousness seemed to make her laugh.

"You're so cute!" she squealed as she ruffled his seal brown tresses, "Like a little brother or something..."

Kenny forced a smile and shrugged. He wasn't surprised by her comment, most saw him as the little brother type.

"Do you know where Tiky and Torah are? I stopped to watch T.V. and now they're gone," she pouted as she sadly shrugged her shoulders.

"Um... I don't know where they are." He admitted as he scratched the back of his head, "They've gotta be in the house somewhere..."

Kierra shrugged again as she suddenly straightened herself up. She removed the wrinkles from her strapless short jeans jumper then adjusted the bright pink T-shirt she wore beneath it. As soon as she was finished with doing that, the Trinidadian and Jamaican mix smiled at the short brunette again.

"Thanks for the help anyway," she grinned and with one last ruffle of his hair, she was off and headed for the backyard.

Kenny mumbled a feeble "You're welcome" then continued on with his journey towards the television room. As he walked towards the living room, he suddenly heard a noise down the hall. Curiosity took over and the short brunette followed the sound to one of the side doors.

Someone was unlocking the door and Kenny stayed out of sight, just in case...

When the door creaked open, the beyblade engineer soon found that it was Daichi entering the house. Apparently, he was sneaking in.

The fifteen year old redhead quietly shut the door as Kenny came into sight, looking at him with inquisitiveness.

"Daichi. You're back!"

Daichi jumped at the sound of his name and spun of his heels to be met with the sight of Kenny's slightly tipsy form appearing out of nowhere.

"DUDE!" Daichi snapped as he placed a hand above his heart, "Don't sneak up on me like that! I coulda had a heart attack or somethin'!"

"Sorry," Kenny apologized with a shrug.

As the redhead began heading towards the room he shared with Tyson, Kenny ended up following him and asked his junior where he had been all day.

It took Daichi a couple of moments to answer and his only reply was; "Out."

"Out?" Kenny inquired, "Out where? We were all wondering where you were all day,"

"Just out," Daichi stated. When he reached the doorway of his and Tyson's room, the emerald eyed male turned to look at his faintly intoxicated friend. "I'm gonna go to bed..." With that, the redhead was finished with the conversation.

Kenny was curious as to why Daichi seemed so eager to be rid of him but he didn't press the matter. Instead he went on with journeying to the television room.

* * *

><p>Hilary was hoping to be able to slip out of her bathroom without her mother hearing her but as soon as she had made it to her bedroom door, Mrs. Tachibana came out into the hallway and reminded Hilary that she wanted to speak with her.<p>

Hilary silently groaned but turned to face her mother with a smile as she made her way over to her.

Mrs. Tachibana and Hilary entered the eighteen year old's room and the two Tachibana females took a seat on the bed.

"How was the party?" Mrs. Tachibana asked.

"Fine." Hilary stated. She shrugged to make it seem nonchalant.

"Was there alcohol?"

"Yes, but no one's drinking and driving and I didn't have any." Half truth.

Mrs. Tachibana paused as she looked her daughter up and down. Everything seemed fine except for the fact that Hilary's eyes were red, but that could be because she needed sleep.

"Was Kai there?"

Hilary's body ran cold as her mother spoke the name of her crush but she played it off.

"Yeah... he lives there..."

Mrs. Tachibana sent Hilary a look that told her that she was not amused with her snippish jesting.

"Your father may not have noticed but since the day Kai was over at the house you've been... not yourself. Hilary... I hope you understand why we punished you. It may seem unfair but-"

"No. I understand..."

Mrs. Tachibana raised a curious eyebrow at Hilary for a brief moment.

"Okay..." Mrs. Tachibana breathed as she studied her daughter's body language. She appeared to be rather relaxed but Mrs. Tachibana could feel some sort of tension emitting from Hilary's person. The elder Tachibana female wore a look of soft concern as she placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder and asked if anything had happened at the party.

It was a delayed answer but Hilary stated that nothing excessively interesting happened at the Blade breakers' barbeque. She quickly thanked her mom for allowing her to attend the party then attempted to get her out of the room by stating that she was tired and wanted to go to sleep.

Mrs. Tachibana furrowed her eyebrows together but she removed herself from Hilary's bed as the eighteen year old tucked herself in. She felt that Hilary's behaviour was suspicious but Mrs. Tachibana also felt that now wasn't the right time to badger her only child.

Allowing the situation to slide until a later date, Mrs. Tachibana made her way over to Hilary's bedroom door and turned off the light.

"Good night Hilary... Remember, your father and I love you and I hope you know you can come and tell us anything..."

It was another delayed response but Hilary murmured an "Um hmm" and told her mother goodnight.

Mrs. Tachibana left without another word and closed Hilary's door behind her.

Hilary, although she had said she was tired, laid in her bed, swept up in her thoughts. She really didn't want to think about Kai and just go to sleep but her mind wasn't allowing herself that privilege. The Japanese brunette stared blankly out into the darkness of her room as she recapped everything in her psyche.

She really couldn't make sense of it all - Why Kai had suddenly turned their awkward friendship into passionate affection right after stating that he had no idea as to what his feelings were towards her?

What had brought on his sudden change or heart? Even though he said that he still didn't know how he felt about Hilary, something had to have changed during the time between when Kai was at her house up until tonight - intoxicated or not...

As Hilary's mind tried its best to work out every single diagnosis, without realizing it, she slowly began drifting off to sleep.

* * *

><p>The barbeque was at its end and everyone was getting ready to head home.<p>

Garland, Brooklyn and Mystel were the first ones out the door but before they piled into Brooklyn's car, Garland made it clear that he was going to be the one who drove and sternly informed Brooklyn that he'd sit in the passenger's seat.

Mystel helped Brooklyn to the car as Garland said a quick goodbye to Kat. He made a move to kiss her but like the night they had gone clubbing, the British beyblader turned her head so Garland's lips would land on her cheek instead.

She sent him a sly smile as he pulled away slightly displeased.

No one heard what Kat said to him after that but a cheery grin lit up his handsome face in no time. They said one last goodbye before Garland slipped into the driver's seat and drove off with the young Egyptian and the inebriated orange haired male.

The Sweet and Sour Candies were saying goodbye to the Blade breakers now and were preparing to leave as well. They all shared their goodbyes, some last longer than others, and some were more intimate than others but as they all stepped away they smiled.

"It's was fun..." J-Dymez stated with a smirk.

"Glad you all could come," Ray smiled.

"Tonight was LIVE!" Kierra cheered, earning more cheers and words of praise from Torah and Tiky.

"Live?" The boys all exchanged glances. Naomi then notified them that 'live' was another word for fun and/or exciting.

"Maybe you guys should have your own dictionary," Max joked.

"I had so much fun," LaLa stated as she gave each Blade breaker that was present a high five. "You guys are so cool,"

"I know," Tyson smirked.

Toni rolled her eyes and folded her arms, "Dumb ass..."

"You're lips say dumb ass but you're eyes say lover!"

The Guyanese female merely grunted and sneered at Tyson's comment but that didn't stop the navy haired beyblading champion from pulling her into an affectionate hug.

"Here they go again..." Ray commented, causing Tiky and Torah to giggle as they pulled out their digital camera and snapped a picture just as Tyson swiftly kissed Toni on the lips.

"For the love of God, get a room!" Kat barked as she pretended to vomit.

As soon as the couple pulled away, Tyson winked down at Toni and whispered he'd call her tomorrow to finish their talk.

"I guess I'll pick up," Toni remarked as she smirked back up at him. The two pulled apart and their teams began 'whoo'ing at them.

"So much evidence to develop..." Torah whispered with a devilish grin to her two sidekicks. Kierra and Tiky chuckled under their breath as Torah shoved the camera back into her pocket.

The Sweet and Sour Candies said their final good nights then made their way next door. The Blade breakers returned to the inside of the dojo and threw themselves down on all the available seats.

"Wicked party," Tyson grinned as he pounded Max's fist.

"Definitely," The blonde responded.

"It was a rather eventful night," Kenny admitted, causing everyone in the living room to look at him.

"I'll bet, huh chief," Tyson remarked as he lightly nudged the brunette in the side. He then proceeded to tease Kenny about his and Kierra's lip lock during their spin the bottle game.

Kenny's cheeks turned bright red and the boys laughed.

"How was it Chief?" Hiro asked in a teasing tone, from the armchair.

The short engineer shrugged but didn't speak.

"Stop embarrassing him," Ray laughed, finally coming to Kenny's defense. The glasses wearing male silently thanked Ray for the rescue.

"Pft. Whatever Mr. star gazer," Tyson snorted, "why the hell haven't you and Naomi made out yet?!"

Ray's rolled his golden eyes at Tyson's question then send the blue haired male a sarcastic glance.

"I don't have to answer but, why is it so hard for you to think we're just friends?"

"Because she's uber hot, an undercover freak and has an ass like a Buick,"

"... Have you ever heard of tact, Tyson?"

The group began to guffaw at Ray's comment, but Tyson didn't seem to understand what Ray had meant by that. The blue haired Blade breaker merely shrugged and stated that Ray should've just made out with Naomi regardless if they had feelings for one another then continued to tell him that he could blame it all on the alcohol the next day.

Once again, Ray rolled his eyes. "Just be quiet, Tyson,"

The red eyed world champion then blew a raspberry at the cat-like male then went on to describe the best moments of the night. Other than the abnormal couples forced to kiss during their spin the bottle game, Kat and Garland's random hook up made it on the list as well as Naomi's bizarre but hilarious drunken acts.

Tyson made sure to glance at Ray as he mentioned it earning him a quick flip of Ray's middle finger.

As they all listed the highlights of the night, the living room was soon filled with loud laughter. Tyson was trying to calm himself long enough to state the next thing he found interesting about the night.

"All that's nothing! Get this! I think I saw Kai and Hilary makin' out!"

Everyone's jaw dropped as they turned to stare at Tyson's with astonished expressions on their faces.

"No way!" Max exclaimed. Tyson nodded.

"I'm serious! They were goin' at it in the hall! I swear I saw them!"

Unable to figure out if Tyson's claim about Hilary and Kai was true or not, Ray cocked a brow and asked if Tyson was sure about what he had seen. The world champ swore he had seen it with his own eyes but to come to his best friend's defense, Ray stated that maybe Tyson drank much more than he should have.

Once again, Tyson blew a raspberry at Ray.

"Stick in the mud."

"Speaking of Hilary and Kai... where are they?" Hiro asked.

Everyone shrugged.

Tyson leaned back in his seat and began stroking at his chin as if he were running his fingers through an imaginary beard. He make loud "hmm" noises and made sure everyone was glancing at him as he pretended to ponder on the whereabouts of their two friends.

"TO KAI'S ROOM!" Tyson announced as he suddenly sprung up onto his feet. The navy haired youth led the way to the Blade Breaker captain's bedroom and Max, Kenny and Hiro instantly began following.

Ray sighed and placed his palm over his face as he got to his feet as well and followed the group. He knew what Tyson was thinking and the golden eyed male prayed that their female friend was not currently in Kai's room... it would be quite hard for Kai to explain that but it really wouldn't matter since he'd probably kill them all for prying into his business.

The group made their way down the hall to Kai's room and they noticed the door was closed. Without bothering to knock, Tyson turned the doorknob and opened Kai's bedroom door with a loud creak.

The room was dark and the only light was coming from the hallway they were standing it, but thanks to the hallway light, it gave the other Blade Breakers a clear view of Kai's room.

They spotted the slate haired male, sprawled out on his bed, fast asleep but Hilary was no where to be found. Cocking an eyebrow, Tyson boldly walked into the room and headed for Kai's closet.

Maybe the couple had heard them all coming and Kai told Hilary to hide in the closet as he faked sleeping.

The world champion loudly threw open the closet door which resulted in Kai's groggy awakening. It took the grey haired youth a moment to fully comprehend that everyone was in his room but as soon as he turned over onto his side he glared daggers at everyone with half lidded, tired eyes.

"What the fuck!?" He snapped. His tone wasn't loud but it didn't take away from the fact that they all knew Kai was fairly pissed off at the moment.

Everyone stayed quiet but Tyson ignored Kai completely as he looked around the room. Tyson checked behind the door, under Kai's bed and even in his dresser drawers and out the window.

"What the fuck, Tyson?!" Kai snapped again and Tyson finally glanced at him.

"Where's your girlfriend at?" Tyson asked, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows at Kai.

The Blade Breaker captain knitted his eyebrows together in annoyance before picking up the nearest object - which happened to be a lamp on his bedside table - and threw it at Tyson.

The red eyed male jumped out of the way and everyone else ran. They didn't want Kai throwing anything at them.

As Tyson and the rest of the Blade breakers ran off laughing, Kai pulled a pillow over his head and yelled; "SOMEBODY BETTER CLOSE MY FUCKING DOOR!"

* * *

><p>It was around four or four-thirty in the morning when everyone decided to go to sleep. The dojo was extremely quiet as Tyson entered his bedroom and flicked the lights on so that he could change into his sleeping attire.<p>

The sudden flicking on of the lights spooked Daichi right out of his sleep and the redhead literally threw himself off the bed. He took a moment to gain his bearings but as soon as he looked up at Tyson the fifteen year old groaned.

"Aw man, what the hell!?" Daichi whined.

Tyson snorted as he looked down at the redhead. "Oh, so you're home now?" he smirked as he made his way over to his dresser and began pulling out his pyjamas. "When'd you get home? Did your fug girlfriend drop you off?"

Daichi grumbled a few things under his breath but other than that, he climbed back into his bed and made himself comfortable all over again as Tyson changed.

"You missed a wicked party, dude." Tyson notified as he pulled his clothes over his head.

Daichi merely grunted as and pulled his bedding over his head.

"I'm serious dude. Everyone was drinking, people were makin' out, and the girls even brought over a hot friend. Brooklyn totally made a move on her but I think you could totally hit that... unless you prefer your dog girlfriend,"

Daichi grunted again but this time he told Tyson to shut his mouth.

"Ooh, someone's grumpy," Tyson teased as he pulled his pyjama pants on and jumped into bed. "So, when do we get to meet this girl? She better not be a total eyesore since you keep ditching us for her,"

"She's not! Shut up already!" Daichi barked and clung to his sheets tighter. Not that it did any good in blocking out Tyson's insufferable talking.

"Good, cause if she's ugly, I'm disowning you from this house!" Tyson laughed.

He quickly remembered to turn off the light so Tyson got to his feet, flicked the light off and jumped back onto his bed to prepare for sleep. The navy haired male pulled his sheets and duvet up over him and turned to Daichi to say goodnight.

"Night butt monkey,"

Daichi mumbled something incoherent and that was the end of that. The two loudest members of the Blade breakers then went to sleep.

* * *

><p>The Sweet and Sour Candies' household was quiet as everyone slept. The only one that didn't seem to be sleeping was Naomi. She wasn't sure why, but she was feeling restless and although she had caught a few winks, she just couldn't bring herself to sleep.<p>

Naomi's lavender eyes looked down by the side of her bed at the Australian and Japanese girl sleeping on the floor. LaLa had decided to stay the night and was currently bunking on Naomi's carpeted floor.

The chocolate skinned female smiled and sat up as she began staring out into the darkness of her room. It was slightly irritating that she couldn't bring herself to go to sleep but there was really nothing she could do about it now...

Maybe she'd do a few things to tire herself out so she could sleep.

Deciding on taking her own mental advice, Naomi got out of bed and made sure not to step on LaLa as she headed downstairs for something to drink. She then planned that, after her drink, she'd tidy the house up a little bit.

When the shy Sweet and Sour Candy finally reached the kitchen, she flicked on the lights and headed for the refridgorator. She pulled out a mug of juice and then went to find herself a glass. She poured the rosewood red liquid into her glass and slowly began drinking it.

The juice had a promogranate and pineapple-y taste to it that she wasn't particularly fond of but she kept drinking anyway. No sense in wasting it.

Naomi was finished half of her beverage when she heard the doorbell ring. The sound caused Noami to jump and nearly spill the contents of her glass all over her but the purple eyed female made her way to the front door and peered out of the window but she saw no one.

Naomi double checked the window before getting close to the door and calling out to see if someone would answer her. She recieved no reply and although there was a small voice in the back of her head telling her to just go to bed, Naomi opened the door just a crack and looked out.

"Hello?" she called and once again no answer. She looked up and down the porch then up and down the street before closing the door and locking it again. "Maybe I was hearing things..." She said to herself and looked over her shoulder at the door.

Maybe it was best if she just went to bed. She was more tired than she thought.

The shy blader turned the kitchen lights off and walked upstairs with her drink.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

When Kai awoke the next morning, his head was throbbing and his ears were ringing. It took his eyes much longer to focus and once they did, he felt like the room was spinning.

The nineteen year old swung his legs over the side of his bed to get his body to feel stable. He put his face down in his palms and groaned as the room's spinning began to slow down... maybe he shouldn't have drank so much... that was the first thing that came to his mind.

Not only that but a beer in his hand was literally the last thing he remembered from last night.

As soon as the spinning feeling was completely gone, Kai slowly got to his feet. He looked down at himself and noticed that he had slept in the clothes he had worn to the party last night.

A shower...

That was the first thing he planned on doing today. He'd brush his teeth in the shower as well. Kai collected a new set of clothes and although he had to pace himself, he made his way to the bathroom. Much to his surprise, it wasn't occupied.

Kai placed his clothes down on the bathroom counter and caught sight of himself in the mirror. He groaned. His hair was a complete mess, he had bags under his eyes and he felt overall disgusting.

"I look like shit..." he grumbled then began undressing. At least he wasn't throwing up... well... not yet. That would probably come later on in the morning... hopefully not while he was bathing.

The Blade Breaker captain took what he needed to shower with and opened the shower door. He placed the items on the small shelf in the shower and turned the hot water on. He gave it a couple moments to warm but as he did, flashes of last night's party came crashing into his memory.

Images of drinking beer, shots of vodka and sake were the first thing that came to mind, then came the spin the bottle and then... the bathroom.

Kai cocked a brow as he lightly shook his head as flashes of the bathroom began assaulting his psyche.

'What the hell was that about?' He mentally pondered as he climbed into the shower. The feeling of the hot water against his skin was soothing but he almost lost balance as more images of last night came into his head.

Images of Hilary, looking at him with lust filled eyes were what he remembered next and it caught him off guard. It had surprised him to the point where he had almost tripped. Luckily he didn't but that surely would've been a pain. Literally and figuratively.

Kai was in the process of lathering his body with soap as another memory came at him. Hilary and him in the bathroom. There was panting and he remembered muffled voices. Once again, Kai almost slipped.

"What the hell happened last night?" he asked himself.

To possibly prevent himself from going to the hospital, Kai decided to rush through his bath and quickly brushed his teeth. He got out of the shower, changed his clothes and made his way back to his room. He wasn't particularly hungry so he didn't bother going to the kitchen for something to eat.

The slate haired teenager threw himself back onto his bed and tried remembering everything that had happened last night. Although he had flashes of it, he really couldn't piece everything together and it was provoking him... especially that memory of Hilary looking at him the way she did.

Kai ran his hands over his face as he tried focusing on that memory in particular. Why had she looked at him like that? He remembered that Hilary had been avoiding him all night so what had that been about? And for the love of God why were they in the bathroom?

"Fuck..." He grunted and ran his hands through his damp hair just as his best friend came appearing in his doorway.

"Morning..." Ray greeted and Kai glanced at him.

Ray looked just as tired as he did but not at all as disgusting looking as Kai expected. Then again, Ray hadn't consumed as much alcohol as he did last night.

Kai greeted Ray with a grunt and sat up. The golden eyed Chinese boy took Kai's change of position as an invite inside his room so Ray walked in and sat at the end of the bed.

"Wow. Looking Good," Ray commented with a devilish smirk.

"Shut up," Kai remarked. He ran his fingers through his hair once more before asking Ray if he enjoyed the party last night.

Ray nodded, "It was interesting. I had fun... but apparently not as much fun as a few other members of our team,"

Kai grunted again but Ray took it as a grunt for him to continue.

"There was a lot of make outs last night. Tyson and Toni, Brooklyn and LaLa, Kat and Garland-"

"Hn?"

"I know! No one saw that one coming..."

"Hn..." Kai nodded.

He raised an eyebrow at the long haired male in front of him and asked if he partook in any lip locking last night. Ray merely shook his head.

"No," was all Ray said but Kai didn't bother asking why. He had thought that maybe Ray and Naomi had some sort of unspoken... something... going on between them but judging from Ray's reaction to his question, the slate haired captain assumed that maybe the two were only friends.

"You apparently got some action last night yourself. Tyson said he caught you and Hilary in the hallway..."

At the sound of that, Kai's eyes widened, nearly to the size of small saucer plates. He took a moment to register Ray's statement but as soon as the feline like Chinese youth had said that, everything came rushing back to him now.

He had cornered Hilary in the hallway, and forced her to talk to him and...

"Oh God..." Kai groaned as he fell back into his pillow.

"I'll say!" Ray commented as he got to his feet. He aimlessly began walking around Kai's room but stopped as he turned to give Kai a very curious look and to ask him what he had been thinking last night. "I thought you didn't know how you felt about Hilary,"

"I don't," Kai stated.

Ray gave him a very sarcastic glance, "Then why did you kiss her? Actually, from what I heard, there may have been a little more than kissing going on."

Kai grunted again and covered his face with his hands. It wasn't very clear but he remembered kissing Hilary, now that Ray was mentioning it. He remembered pressing her up against the wall and pressing his lips to hers.

He remembered the way she smelled and how her pretty scent was mixed with the smell of alcohol. He remembered how surprised she was from his actions and he remembered how easily she got swept up with him as they kissed in the hallway... he even remembered the taste of her lipgloss.

"Shit..." Kai grumbled as he sat back up.

This was beginning to snowball into a much bigger problem than it had been before.

Ray paused and waited to see if Kai was going to say anything else. Noticing that he wasn't, the golden eyed male decided to put forward some advice for his now distraught friend.

"I know you're not one to do things like this but... I really think it would be a good idea for you to call Hilary. You two really need to talk about this before you end up losing a friend, or maybe even missing out on something..." His voice trailed off as he didn't bother to finish his sentence.

Ray's advice was met with an annoyed grunt.

Ray had stated it himself, Kai wasn't the type to talk about things like this, let alone call someone to talk about it but his friend had a point. Believe it or not, Hilary was indeed his friend and Kai actually didn't want them to stop being friends over something as trivial as this...

He paused to ponder on it... maybe Hilary's feelings for him weren't as trivial as he thought. Kai pushed that to the back of his mind. Baby steps. He was going to approach the situation one step at a time...

With another annoyed grunt Kai forced himself up onto his feet. He really didn't want to discuss anything over the phone and he knew Hilary would throw herself off a cliff before coming back to the dojo so Kai really had no choice but to go and see Hilary at her house.

"Fuck my life," Kai grumbled as he ran his fingers through his hair and headed out of this bedroom. Ray followed behind.

"I know you don't want to do it but you have to," Ray said as he walked along side Kai.

The two-tone haired male let out one of his usual; "Hn's" before heading to the kitchen to retrieve Hiro's car keys. Ray cocked an eyebrow at his friend and asked where Kai was heading off too. Kai was about to answer but Ray put two and two together.

"You're going to her house? Thought you were banned from there," The last part had been a joke but Kai wasn't in the mood.

"She's not gonna come here. She probably won't answer her phone either."

Ray nodded, "You're probably right..."

"Hn," with an inward sigh, Kai headed out into the garage and hopped into Hiro's car.

* * *

><p>Over at the Sweet and Sour Candies' household, the girls awoke with hungover groans and tired yawns. Slowly, they all began trickling into the kitchen to get themselves ready for the day.<p>

Most didn't bother eating because they feared that whatever they ate would come back up fairly quickly.

The girls sat around the kitchen in silence, drinking tea and coffee, some took a few painkillers before drinking away at their warm morning beverages.

"Ugh," Toni finally groaned, capturing the attention of the other girls, "My head is KILLIN' me!"

"And we have a battle today..." Kat griped as she threw herself down into one of the kitchen chairs at the table, "Whose poor event planning was THAT?!"

LaLa groggily raised her head as she rested her head on the table top. "Sorry..." she mumbled then buried her face in her arms. She was beyond tired.

"Ugh!" Toni groaned again as she hopped up onto the kitchen counter, "Shit... what time is our battle?"

LaLa and Tiky both turned to look at the clock on the stove and in unison they notified the girls that their Beyblade would be in three hours.

"Enough time for a nap," Torah sighed as she finished her tea then placed her head down on the tabletop as well.

"Have to admit though..." Kat said, getting the girls to all look at her, "Pretty fun party,"

The girls all nodded, smiled and smirked at the British descendant.

"You seemed to have had a fun night," J-Dymez remarked as she folded her arms. The light skinned, Jamaican female leaned against the kitchen's doorway then sent Kat a sly smirk.

Kat saw J-Dymez's expression then flipped her the middle finger quickly before turning away to ignore her. Although she had hoped her friends hadn't heard J-Dymez comment, the girls all looked at Kat with cheeky smiles.

"So... Is Garland a good kisser?" Tiky asked, suggestively wiggling her eyebrows.

"Shut up," Kat snapped before picking up her tea and drinking from it.

The girls all began laughing as Kat's eyebrows knitted together in annoyance. They didn't provoke her any further, they knew if they didn't drop it, Kat would be angry with them for the rest of the day. Kat could get pretty nasty when she was angry.

"I like the Blade breakers. They're so down to earth," LaLa said, earning nods in agreement.

"Yeah..." Toni smiled warmly as she started down into her coffee cup. She swirled the dark brown liquid around in the mug just before saying; "Never would've thought such high class athletes would be so cool..."

"Speaking of the Blade breakers," Tiky began as she wiggled her eyebrows at Toni, "you and Tyson got pretty frisky in the closet!"

Toni shot Tiky an icy glare while the other members of the S.A.S.C. household began to giggle and guffaw.

"Whatever..." Yet another member in the group that didn't want to talk about their hook up at the party last night. Toni stared daggers at Tiky and the others as she took another sip of her coffee.

"Speaking of last night," Naomi began as her laughter finally died down, "I was in the kitchen last night and someone rang the doorbell. I answered but no one was there..."

Slowly, everyone turned to look at Naomi. Even LaLa and Torah lifted their heads up from off the table to look at the Lavender eyed female.

For a long while no one said anything, some of the girls exchanged slightly concerned glances. Noticing that their seemed to be a hint of panic amongst the team, Toni took it upon herself to reassure some of them that it was nothing and probably just some pranksters in the neighbourhood.

J-Dymez and Kat agreed and stated that their was nothing to worry about. Naomi, Torah, LaLa, Tiky and Kierra all exchanged glances but spoke of it no further.

Once again the kitchen went silent. Slowly the girls headed back upstairs to prepare for the rest of their day.

* * *

><p>It was sometime in the afternoon when the rest of the Blade breakers awoke. Tyson, Max, Kenny and Daichi were all in the living room, Hiro decided that he'd sleep in for the rest of the day and Ray did the same.<p>

Tyson and Max, although quite groggy and hungover were talking loudly about what had happened at the party last night while Tyson aimlessly surfed through the television channels.

Kenny merely shook his head and didn't say anything while Daichi sat on the love seat by himself. He was texting and only would look up when Max and Tyson's laughter became too loud.

"So are you gonna ask her to be your girlfriend or what?" Tyson asked Max, referring to Torah.

The freckle face blonde laughed but his cheeks began turning bright pink. Max shrugged but didn't give Tyson a verbal answer.

The navy haired male smirked and lightly elbowed Max in the side, as he said; "We can go over there and do it now," He sent Max a rather perverted look that caused the blonde to laugh again.

"No way! I'm not going over there for that!" Max chuckled receiving a shrug from Tyson.

"Fine, then lets go over there so Kenny can get some more lip action from Kierra," Tyson turned to his glasses wearing friend then began making kissing faces at him.

Kenny, shocked from Tyson's embarrassing comment, turned beet red.

"T-That's not funny!"

"Ah c'mon Chief, Live a little. She's pretty damn cute," Tyson snickered.

"I didn't say Kierra wasn't attractive!" Kenny snapped. He quickly gained some composure and changed the tone of his voice, "My heart belongs to Ming-Ming,"

That's when Daichi's eyes quickly darted towards the group. He didn't say anything, instead he merely listened in on the conversation.

"Alright, she can have your heart but who'll have your body?" Tyson snorted.

Max instantly began howling with laughter at Tyson's joke while Kenny's jaw dropped like a sack of bricks. He honestly couldn't believe Tyson had said something like that... but after thinking about it, why did he think Tyson wouldn't say something like that?

"That's just perverted..." The short brunette mumbled, earning him more laughs from Max and Tyson.

"Lighten up Chief, I'm kidding!" Tyson grinned as he playfully smacked Kenny on the back. The beyblade engineer tried to keep a stern face but it proposed to be rather difficult since his cheeks were burning from blushing so much.

"You need to get over her though, seriously. She's never gonna notice you if you don't make a move, Besides," Tyson leaned back into the sofa, "she's surrounded by celebrities all day - I'm not saying your plain or whatever but what makes you think she'll come to you?"

Kenny furrowed his eyebrows at Tyson's question and shrugged. He had very little experience with the opposite sex but even so, Kenny knew that he and Ming-Ming could never be an item if he didn't do something to make it happen, but once again, he was very inexperienced with that sort of thing.

Not wanting to think about it any further, Kenny shrugged.

"I was hoping that it would just happen on its own," he mumbled.

Tyson was about to speak when Daichi suddenly snorted and went back to texting. Tyson, Kenny and Max turned to look at the redheaded fifteen year old with curious expression.

"What was that about?" Tyson asked, causing Daichi to look at him.

For a moment, the emerald eyed youth had nothing to say, until he looked down at Kenny.

"What makes you think she'd even want you?"

"What makes you think she wouldn't?!" Tyson snapped.

Daichi's gaze returned to the navy haired Champion. His bright red eyebrows knitted together in annoyance just before he cocked one up at his teammate.

"You said it yourself! What would she want with a guy like Kenny?!"

"That's not what I said, Butt Monkey!"

With a grunt, Daichi dropped the conversation and continued on with texting. Not ready to give up on the conversation, Tyson got up from the couch and walked over to Daichi. He was planning to swipe the fifteen year old's phone but Daichi had seen him coming and hid it behind his back.

"Who are you texting anyway? You're girlfriend?" He folded his arms lazily, "How did you even get a girlfriend in the first place?"

"That's none of your business! Butt out Tyson!"

"Butt out Tyson, Meh!" Tyson mocked then immaturely stuck his tongue out at Daichi. The navy haired boy turned around to look at Max and Kenny.

He could see it all over their faces. The feeling of the living room had grown suddenly tense and awkward and it was started to suffocate them.

"Whatever," the blue haired beyblading Champion remarked, "Let's go next door." He led the way to the living room doorway and Kenny and Max quickly followed. "You can come if you want, I guess..." Tyson said as he quickly glanced back over at Daichi.

The redhead looked up at his roommate but shook his head; no as he got up onto his feet.

"I'm gonna go out,"

Tyson rolled his eyes, "Figures. Can't seem to keep you around lately... Which reminds me... Where the hell did Kai go!?"

* * *

><p>Kenny, Max and Tyson were making their way over to the girls house when they noticed them leaving. They were piling into a cab van when Tyson called out and caught their attention. J-Dymez told the others to continue getting into the car while Toni went over to quickly speak with the navy haired boy.<p>

"Where you girls heading off too?" Tyson asked, staring down at Toni with a sly smile.

"None of your business," She shot back, smirking.

"Really? I'd think it'd be my business in where my girl is going,"

Toni snorted and rolled her eyes, "I'll call you later, iight?"

"Where are you going?" Tyson asked, repeating his question. This time, he sounded a bit more forceful in wanting an answer.

The dark tan skinned Guyanese girl cocked an eyebrow at Tyson. She sent him a stern look and folded her arms as she once again stated that she would call him later.

"Here they go..." Max mumbled to Kenny as Tyson stepped forward to meet Toni's stern look.

"What? You can't just tell me where your going? Why the hell do you have to be so stubborn!?"

"Why the hell do you have to be so annoying?!"

"Why the hell do you have to act like such a bitch!?"

"Why the hell do you have to act like such an ass?!"

"Why the hell can't this wait until later!?" Kat snapped as she stuck her head out of the cab van.

"Toni, we have to go." J-Dymez stated sternly before glancing at Tyson, Max and Kenny. "She'll call you later Tyson. Max... Kenny..." The Maroon eyed female gave the two other boys a salutational nod before climbing into the cab herself.

Without another word, Toni turned on her heels and got into the cab as well. She shut the door behind her and with that, it slowly began driving off.

"What was that all about?" Max asked, turning to Tyson. The flau red eyed male stared at the cab until it finally turned around the corner just up the street.

"...Alright then... To the Bat Mobile"

"The Bat Mobile?" Max and Kenny exchanged glances as Tyson turned and walked pass them, back towards the dojo.

"Yup. We're gonna follow 'em."

"Follow them!?" Kenny exclaimed in shock, "Tyson, J-Dymez said Toni'll call you later. Why can't you just wait!?"

"I'm tired of them keeping secrets from us! I came over here to see her and I'm gonna see where she's going and what she's ditching me for." With that, Tyson hurried to the dojo's garage.

"Oh boy... they've only just started going out and already Tyson's being an overprotective boyfriend," Max commented to Kenny as the two of them followed the now hot-headed friend.

As soon as they got to the garage, Tyson opened the door and they all peered inside. Hiro's car was gone and Tyson began grumbling.

"Kai must've taken the car..." he gripped to himself as he looked around the garage.

A pleased grin came to his face as soon as he found new means of transportation. The navy haired Blade breaker pointed over to the far left corner of the garage and yelled; "To the Bat Bikes!"

Max and Kenny exchanged glances once more. Max laughed like Kenny cocked an eyebrow at their blue haired friend.

"You're kidding... right?" Kenny asked as he and Max followed Tyson over to the pile of mountain bikes.

"Nope," Tyson stated, he quickly went through the pile upon finding his ten-speed two-wheeler he leaned it against the garage wall before diving back into the pile to find Max and a bike for Kenny to ride.

Tyson passed Max his bike then wheeled Daichi's over to their brunette blade engineer.

"You can use Daichi's,"

"Tyson, you can't be serious. You're not seriously going to make us follow a taxi cab on a bunch of bikes are you?" Kenny looked at Tyson with a great amount of concern etched across his face but the beyblade champion looked at Kenny as if he hadn't understood anything he had said.

"Yes..." Tyson stated bluntly, placed the bike in Kenny's grasp then mounted his.

Max sighed as he and Kenny mounted theirs and followed Tyson's down the street.

"I have a feeling this won't turn out well..." Kenny breathed as he and Max shook their heads.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

During his hurried drive to Hilary's place, Kai tried to organize his thoughts as best as he could but his mind kept jumping all over the place. First off, he and Hilary needed to discuss what was going on between them... Kai wasn't exactly sure what WAS going on between them but if they talked about it he'd figure it out.

He also began thinking about what would happen if Hilary answered the door and wouldn't let him in or if either of her parents answered the door and wouldn't let him in. That's when Kai's mind switched topics and began thinking up random scenarios of 'what ifs'.

The 'what if' scenarios soon began taking over Kai's mind and he was now in the process of working them all out. Thinking and planning out what he'd say and do if any of these things happened.

Again, Kai's thought changed and went back to Hilary. He wasn't very good with communicating, especially not with Hilary in the most recent days... what if she cried again?

Kai cringed at the thought. He really disliked crying but he especially hated when Hilary cried because it was always his fault.

Kai could admit it. Hilary was indeed his friend. He enjoyed her company and since Ray had brought it up, he did find her attractive but... He paused. Did that mean he liked her?

The half Russian tried his best to figure this all out and get his act together but as soon as he hit a red light he pulled the black Mitsubishi gallant to a stop and let out a very frustrated grunt.

How did things get so ugly? No... he thought. Ugly wasn't the right word. How did things get so... hideous. Still not the right word but it would have to do for now.

Ever since the day Hilary had officially confessed to him that she was interested in him romantically everything between them had been going down hill.

Kai grunted again. He was in way over his head.

Once the stop light turned green Kai found himself speeding towards Hilary's house. He'd focus on one thing and one thing only. Last night. He'd just go in, talk about last night, state that he and Hilary needed to really work things out then leave before he was either kicked out of before things got awkward.

Kai nodded to himself. That would have to do...

He exhaled deeply as he pulled onto the street the Tachibanas lived on. Now he was beginning to understand how women could drive men so crazy... they were way too complex.

When Kai pulled up to the Tachibana house he turned off the car but didn't get out immediately. He sat there silently furrowing his eyebrows. Trying to weigh in his head if this was all a good idea or not but as soon as he looked over towards the Tachibana's front door, Kai forced himself out of the car.

He walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell once and only once. Kai waited for someone to come and answer him but for some reason, the wait seemed abnormally long... even though he had only waited about twenty seconds.

Kai rang the doorbell again... then again... then again and again and again until finally someone pulled the door open... It was Hilary.

"Ye-" she stopped speaking as soon as she looked up and noticed who was at her door step.

As Kai took a good look at her, he noticed that her eyes were puffy and red which wasn't a very good sign since it probably meant she had been crying.

'Great...' He mentally groaned. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Kai - in the nicest voice he could muster - politely asked Hilary entry to her home and for a long while she did nothing but stare at him like he was some sort of oddity.

Finally, Hilary turned away and stepped aside to allow the tall half Russian access to her home.

Kai walked into the foyer and quickly removed his shoes. He turned back to look at Hilary noticed her staring down at her feet. His gaze quickly followed hers and watched as she began wiggling her toes.

"We... need to talk..." He said, finally tearing his eyes way from her feet. He tried making eye contact with the Japanese brunette but she either turned away or kept bowing her head further so that her long bangs covered her face.

"I... don't think we should..." Hilary murmured. Her voice was just above a whisper but Kai had caught her words.

"Well, I think we do." He blatantly stated. He really just wanted to get this over with now.

Hilary began fidgeting under Kai's stare now. She turned so that her shoulder was facing him as she very slowly, began walking around him.

She breathed in deeply as she tried regaining some control over her emotions. Tears were threatening to surface as she silently asked the heavens what she was being punished for. She had woken up crying and had been all morning, she really wasn't in the mood to continue doing so for the rest of the day.

As much as Hilary wanted Kai to figure out his feelings for her, she really hadn't expected him to come over the day after they had drunkenly made out.

Sighing, Hilary stated once again that she didn't want to talk and that every time they had one of their 'little talks' she always ended up with her feelings hurt.

Kai said nothing since this was true but it was important. Not being able to think of anything comforting to say, the purple eyed male merely began stating his piece.

"We need to talk about what happened... last night... It's important..." His voice trailed off as he notice Hilary suddenly stop just behind him. He turned so that she was properly in his sights and he noticed just how rigid her body had gone.

"Last night..." She breathed and without warning, bolted for the stairs.

This had caught them both off guard as Hilary began hightailing it up the steps. She was aiming to get to her bathroom to lock herself in there since her bedroom didn't have a lock.

She hoped she'd be fast enough but evidently she wasn't. Kai caught up to her surprisingly fast and latched himself firmly onto her wrist just as she hit the last step at the top.

"Hilary!" He began and she quickly turned to look at him. She was on the verge of tears and Kai felt his stomach turn. "About last night-"

"It was a mistake..." She cut him off.

"...Excuse me?" Kai furrowed his eyebrows together with very sudden annoyance.

"It was a mistake," She repeated. "That's what you were going to say, weren't you? You were going to blame it all on the beer and vodka..." Her timid and pleading voice suddenly went cold and acidic.

For a moment, Kai was completely stunned by the abrupt change of vocal pattern but once realizing that Hilary was giving him attitude he shot her a stern look.

"That wasn't what I was going to say," He snapped, "Instead of cutting me off, you could at least listen to what I have to say."

Hilary began sniffling but her face remained stony and hard as she turned away from him. She tightly shut her eyes.

"Kai... please..." her voice had switched back to that begging tone of hers.

This made him sigh as he removed his grip from her wrist. Kai motioned upwards so that he was standing on the same step as Hilary but he placed one of his hands on the railing, preventing her from running to the bathroom or any other of the free rooms upstairs.

Kai was about to speak but then he noticed just how eerily quiet Hilary's house was.

That probably meant her parents weren't home and since Kai had no idea when they'd be back, he went back to trying to state what needed to be said as quickly as possible.

"We're going to talk about this whether you like it or not," he said and Hilary's expression went south. She began frowning deeply but returned to not wanting to look him in the eye.

Kai paused, seeing Hilary light this was actually making him rather doleful.

'Shit...' he thought to himself as his own mood hit negative fifty.

He inhaled deeply before speaking again.

"Look Hilary, about last night..." He paused to reorganize his words, "Last night was... I'm not sure how to describe it. Things just... got out of hand.

Hilary's gaze had returned to her feet and she had gone unnaturally quiet and still. She sniffled as she quickly looked up at Kai through her messy bangs. Out of hand? That was quite the understatement.

Kai went on, "Over the past week, Things between you and me have been... awkward,"

Another understatement.

"I can't say I... share your feelings because I'm really not sure but when I said I liked you Hilary, I meant it. You're a part of the team and you're my friend but-" Before he could finish the unthinkable happened and Hilary slapped him.

With incredible speed and shock, Hilary had slapped Kai right across the face, almost literally knocking the words out of his mouth.

The slap she had laid across Kai's cheek was loud and immensely painful but he was more overcome with shock than pain. Neither of them had seen that coming...

Hilary's heartbeat began racing as she covered her mouth as she let out a faint gasp. The fact that she had just slapped him had just fully sunk in and now Hilary was looking to get away.

Forcing herself past him, Hilary charged for her room, totally forgetting about the lock situation. She tried to close to door behind her but Kai was in the doorway in no time.

He forced the door back open and caught Hilary by one of her wrists again. He brought up her other hand to try and free herself but Kai caught that one as well.

The two teenagers began to stumble backwards into Hilary's room as Kai stared at her with vexation.

"What the fuck was that about!?" He snapped.

"H-How did you think I was going to react!?" Hilary shot back, not sure as of what to do at the moment. Her voice cracked from fear as well as stress.

"I didn't think you'd slap the fucking taste out of my mouth! What the hell Hilary!"

The Japanese brunette was about to come up with a rebuttal but her legs suddenly came in contact with her bed. This in turn cause her to fall over, bring Kai with her.

Both had expected a soft and very awkward landing on Hilary's bed but since they were so far off the the side, Hilary's back bounce off the mattress and the two ended up falling onto the floor.

Both landed on their shoulders with a loud and painful bang.

The nineteen year old half Russian and the eighteen year old Japanese Girl groaned as they brought themselves up into a sitting position. Kai still manage to keep his grasp firmly around Hilary's hands.

They continued to groan in slight agony but Kai was the quickest to recover. He turned to Hilary, stern faced, and went on with the speech he had been saying before they had taken their tumble.

"Hilary. You are going to talk to me." He ordered but she said nothing. "Look, this needs to be dealt with. I know you don't want to talk about it but we have to..." His threatening voice soon turned into a hushed tone as looked at the way Hilary's eyebrows knitted together and the way her lower lip stuck out in a sort of pout.

She was quite adorable when she made that expression.

Finally releasing one of her hands, Kai forced Hilary to look at him. Her expression was so terribly heart wrenching that Kai decided to take on a different approach.

"I'm sorry..."

She didn't see that coming. Hilary's expression went from heart wrenching to rather confused in a matter of seconds. She blinked many times and realized she was at a complete loss of words.

Kai took the time to repeat his apology before elaborating as to why he was saying sorry.

"I'm sorry for making you cry... I'm sorry for hurting your feelings and for everything I've done to you over the past week but you need to understand just how hard this is for me. I can't handle this." He took a deep breath before continuing, "You're the only person other than Tyson that has driven me near insanity... but in a different way... He's more of an annoyance." He shook his head. He was getting off topic, "Right now, I don't give a damn what you do but you're going to listen to me and-"

He couldn't say anything else after that since Hilary had suddenly lunged at him with the next shocker of their day. Her lips collided with his and now it was Kai's turn in not knowing what to do.

He started to panic a little but something in his mind just told him to relax, and to his own surprise he did. He breathed in and took in one of Hilary's familiar scents. She smelled like mangos and coconuts. One of his personal favourites...

He paused. Personal favourite!?

Furrowing his eyebrows together, Kai pulled away from Hilary and looked at her. Her eyes were close but as soon as she felt his lips fully leave hers she opened them then turned away.

She was embarrassed with her actions and wanted to fill the silence within her room but she couldn't. She was tongue tied and staring at her bedroom floor.

As a matter of fact, she wasn't just embarrassed. Hilary was quite alarmed by her sudden need to kiss him. She had no idea what had come over her but as soon as Kai had finished apologizing Hilary's mind had gone blank and she just acted without warning.

Hilary couldn't fathom on how that had happened and now she was regretting what she had done, severely.

Finally finding her words, Hilary forced herself to look at Kai. "I'm sorry, I don't know what-" she was about to apologize herself when Kai suddenly leaned forward and kissed her back. Hilary's chocolate gaze widened as she and Kai's lips pressed against each other for the second time in the span of two minutes.

He placed one hand at the nape of Hilary's neck and slightly brought her forward towards him. Deepening the kiss. Hilary complied but instead of just bringing her head forward Hilary pressed her body against his.

She really wasn't implying anything, it was just some sort of instinctive reaction.

Kai's hands moved from the back of Hilary's neck and hand to her hips and he brought her up onto his lap. He could feel her heart beating up against her chest but his was doing the same.

Kai couldn't make out as to why he and Hilary were currently lip locking but that didn't seem very important as of right now.

The two teenagers pulled away from each other to catch their breath but it wasn't long until they went back in to kiss one another.

Hilary brought her hands up behind Kai and began digging her fingernails into his shoulder blades. Kai in turn brought his hand back up to the back of Hilary's neck while the other one began roaming up and down her arm, giving her goosebumps.

They pulled away from each other again but Hilary nipped lightly at Kai's lips, asking him not to draw away from her. He pressed his forehead to hers.

"You think I'm driving you crazy?" she half smiled, "You're driving me crazy..." she whispered.

"I know..." He whispered back and brought his hands up to cup her pretty face.

Kai pulled Hilary in to kiss her again but instead of a sweet lip lock the two of them kissed with extremely passion. Hilary dug her fingernails deeper into Kai's back as he wrapped his arms around her torso and held her against him.

He pulled away to breath then kiss her again but the two froze at the sound of a woman screeching at the top of her lungs.

Hilary then heard her name being called in a shocked tone and this forced both she and Kai to look over towards Hilary's bedroom door.

They were busted...

"Mom... Dad... You're home..."

* * *

><p>Tyson, Max and Kenny had lost track of the girl's taxi and were heading back to the dojo. They walked with their bikes into the garage and set them back in their usual spot.<p>

With an irked grunt, Tyson turned to Max and Kenny with determination written all over his face.

"We're gonna find out what they're up too. Even if it kills us," He said, causing Kenny to frown.

"Tyson please." The intellectual blade engineer sighed, "Do we really have to do this? I'm sure Toni will tell you what they're all doing when she's ready. This really isn't necessary..."

Tyson looked at Kenny as if he had spoken something foolish.

"Isn't necessary? It is necessary!" he stated, causing Kenny to groan.

Kenny and Max followed their blue haired friend to the garage door that would lead them inside the dojo but stopped as they saw Kai pulling into the driveway, then slowly into the garage.

Tyson was about to tell Max and Kenny about his new and elaborate plan on following the girls and possibly buying them a set of walkie talkies but the beyblade world champion quirked a brow as he and his two friends watched their team captain get out of Hiro's car.

"Hmm," Tyson smirked, "Look whose back,"

The navy haired beyblader folded his arms and began tapping his foot as Kai made his way over to the three of them. "Where have you been mister!? Do you know what time it is?!"

Kai knew Tyson was just joking but the slate haired male really wasn't in the mood for Tyson's games. Forcing his way past them all, Kai grumbled and told Tyson to shut his mouth. Without another word, Kai disappeared into the dojo.

Max and Kenny exchanged glances and Tyson growled at the closed door.

"Sheesh!" Tyson griped, "What's his problem?"

* * *

><p>It was Wednesday now and Ray was out in the backyard. He was lying down in the rope woven hammock, staring up through the tree's canopy.<p>

His golden eyes soon averted their gaze from the sunny, cloud free sky to turn to look at the dojo. Ray had been finding himself outside a lot lately but that wasn't his fault.

He wasn't sure why but more than eighty percent of his household was acting rather strangely.

Hiro was out with Brooklyn and Garland. There was nothing strange about that though. It was everyone else in the house that was acting odd or somewhat out of character.

Kai had locked himself in his room and hasn't really spoken to anyone since the day he had gone to see Hilary. Ray had asked him multiple times about what happened but Kai always shrugged him off and returned to his room without a word.

Tyson, Max and Kenny were out stalking the neighbours again for...

Ray paused.

Was it the fifth time they were following them? He wasn't sure.

Daichi was missing in action as well and absolutely no one knew where he went when he disappeared. Ray thought that maybe Tyson and the other should focus on following him but Daichi always seemed to return at a respectable hour so he supposed thats why no one paid the young redhead any mind.

Getting up off of the hammock, Ray decided he'd go out for another walk since he honestly had nothing better to do.

The Chinese male headed for the backyard gate to exit out onto the sidewalk when he heard something over the fence in the neighbours yard. With a cocked eyebrow, Ray began listening in and noticed that it was Naomi doing only God knew what on the other side of that wooden fence.

As he became swept up in curiosity, the golden eyed male walked over to the fence and mounted a rock so he could see over it. Ray peered over the barrier between the two neighbouring yards and noticed Naomi sitting a few feet away in a lawn chair with a sketch book in her lap and a mechanical pencil in her hand.

The dark skinned female was smiling warmly as she stood and placed everything she had in her grasp onto the chair.

"Little bird... stay still," She said as she slightly tilted her head to the side.

It wasn't until Ray turned to look at the fence wall adjacent to the one he was looking over did he notice a bird. It was a little brown nestling with fluffy feathers. It began to chirp and look at Naomi curiously as she slowly approached him.

She smiled wider as she dug into her pocket and retrieved a couple of bird seeds.

"Could you model for me little bird?" She asked and very cautiously stuck her hand out. Offering the small winged creature the seeds.

The little bird chirped again and Ray thought it wouldn't go for the seeds since birds were regularly timid creatures but to his own surprised it flapped its little wing and handed in Naomi's hand to eat the treats she offered.

Naomi giggled as she brought the bird close to her to examine it.

"What a pretty bird..." she cooed. She wanted to pet it but she refrained from doing so. She didn't want to scare him. She let him eat a few more seeds before slowly directing her hand towards a little bird feeder near the corner of the yard.

The little brown bird jumped from Naomi's hand to the feeder and she quickly shoved the seeds back into her jacket pocket. Naomi went back to retrieve her sketchbook and pencil then came back to roughly sketch the small bird.

"You're quite lovely, you know," She smiled and the little bird chirped.

Ray couldn't help but smile to himself. This was probably the most adorable thing he'd ever seen. He continued to watch as Naomi sketched the bird but he suddenly moved his arms to change his position. He brought it up to suddenly and it startled the little fledgling, causing it to fly away.

Naomi looked up just as it flew from her backyard, she pouted then turned back to see what had startled it. Just as she did Ray sent her a sheepish glance.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare your model," He said with a rueful half smile.

Naomi's cheeks began to burn and she quickly turned to look somewhere else. "Its okay..." she said in a timid little voice. She wasn't too upset since she had finished her sketch. She was going to work a little bit more on the finer details when the bird suddenly flew away but like stated she wasn't upset.

It would be back.

Ray brought both his arms up to the fence, folded them then rested his chin on them.

"I didn't know you could draw." He said.

Naomi looked at him, smiled then turned away again. "Yeah... Its sort of a hobby of mine..."

"Can I see?" He asked. Ray out stretched his hand for Naomi's sketchbook but she was reluctant with handing it over to him.

She shook her head, "Oh, I'm so bad. It's really just a hobby,"

Ray motioned his hand for her to pass it over, "I'm sure they'll look fine," He stated, still urging her to pass the sketchbook to him.

Naomi looked from Ray's hand, to his face then down at her sketchbook. She gripped onto it tighter but notice that Ray wouldn't rest until he had it she handed it over with contrite written all over her face.

Ray gently grasped the book and looked at it, using the fence as a table. The Chinese cat-like youth flipped through the pages of Naomi's sketchbook slowly. He took in every detail and mark would make different expressions at every piece.

Naomi just couldn't tell what his expressions mean. She wasn't sure if Ray liked her work or if he found it to be sloppy and poorly done.

When he came to the last page with actual artwork on it, Ray looked at Naomi slightly wide eyed.

"Wow..." He stated before closing it. He handed Naomi back the sketchbook and she was sure that he hated her work but his stunning fang smiled stopped her thought dead in its tracks, "You're amazing... I mean... I've never seen work like that before. It's really good,"

Naomi began to blush again. "T-thank you..." She said as she looked down at her sketchbook. She smiled happily to herself. He liked her artwork.

"Did you go to school for that?" Ray suddenly asked, recapturing Naomi's attention. She shook her head and stated that she indeed hadn't had any formal artistic training. Ray seemed even more impressed.

"Wow. That's cool," He said, another toothy grin etching across his handsome face. "Could you draw me?"

Naomi's breath hitched in her throat and it took her a moment to remember how to breathe. She should've seen that coming really. As soon as people found out she could draw fairly well they always asked for a portrait of themselves.

"U-um, Well I-I, I mean y-you," She began to stutter and this caused Ray to look at her with a little bit of curiosity.

"If you can't that fine-"

"N-no! I c-can..."

This made Ray smile again. "Really?"

Naomi smiled sheepishly again as she finally looked back up at him and nodded. "If you want me to... I-I'll draw you a portrait..."

Ray nodded as he continued to smile. "Whenever you're free, I'll swing by or you can come over here and just... draw me," He wasn't exactly sure of Naomi's process of making portraits but he assumed that he was correct in guessing that they'd just meet and she'd draw him.

"U-um... okay," she agreed.

Ray nodded once again and a calm silence fell between the two. Ray stared at Naomi and Naomi stared back until it became too much for her. Naomi turned away to gather up her things when something suddenly came to the golden eyed beyblader's mind.

"Naomi, where's your housemates?"

Naomi froze for a second before picking up the rest of her drawing supplies on the other side of the lawn chair.

"I don't know..." She said.

Ray quirked an eyebrow at her. "So you're home all by yourself?"

"I... wasn't feeling to well and they went out and left me here to rest."

Ray looked at her with a little bit of worry. "Are you okay?"

Naomi turned to look at him. She heard the genuine concern in his voice and couldn't help but look at him. She quickly turned away as her cheeks began to heat with another blush.

"Umhmm," she nodded, "I'm fine. I think I was just a little exhausted." Her eyes widened as she realized that she let too much information slip.

"Exhausted?"

"Um... From doing so many chores..."

Ray made a face. He cocked an eyebrow at her suspiciously but let the topic slide. Naomi really had no reason to lie to him, Ray couldn't help feeling like she was editing her information in one way or another.

"Hey..." He began, sending Naomi another one of his toothy grins, "Are you busy?"

Naomi's eyes widened further as she looked at the cat-like teen.

"No..."

"Are you still feeling a little sick?"

"Um... no... not anymore..."

Ray tilted his head as he continued to smile at Naomi, "Do you wanna go for a walk?"


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

When Ray arrived back to the dojo he noticed that it was filled with obnoxious noise again. The cat-like male shook his head as he slipped off his shoes and walked deeper into the house.

This must've meant Tyson, Max and Kenny were back from their little 'stalking escapade'.

Ray strolled into the living room and took a seat in the armchair on the farthest end of the room. The television was on but no body in the room was watching it since they were all too engrossed in the conversation at hand.

Tyson was going on and on and on about his new plans. He was even so bold in stating that he was thinking of buying a set of walkie talkies. Max found it to be a hilariously good idea while Kenny frowned upon it.

"Don't you think this is getting a bit out of hand Tyson? I mean... if they want us to know what they're doing they'll tell us wont they? I mean... its been three days since we started this stupid plan."

Tyson looked at his glasses wearing friend with a somewhat irked expression before turning to the blonde beside Kenny.

"Max..." Tyson began, "Shun the weak link..."

"Oh be mature Tyson!" Kenny snapped before either Max or Tyson could say anything else about his doubts in Tyson's 'flawless plan'.

Ray let out a little chuckle as he got up and retrieved the remote from the coffee table. As funny as hearing Tyson's plans were he was looking forward to just relaxing and watching some T.V.

Just as Ray was about to returned to his seat, that's when the others noticed him. Max, Tyson and Kenny all paused as they looked at Ray who in turned look back at them. Not only did he feel they're eyes on him but they're discussion came to a sudden halt so the cat-like male knew they had only just taken in his presence.

"Where've you come from?" Tyson asked.

"My mother," Ray shot back with a smile.

"Ha ha. Funny guy," Tyson said sarcastically, "Seriously, where'd you walk in from?"

"I just got back from my walk with Naomi," The golden eyed youth notified as he began flipping through the channels. He honestly thought that'd be the end of his conversation with the three but Tyson kept staring at him.

Ray looked back at the navy haired beyblader and noticed the look on Tyson's face. He couldn't narrow it down to just one or two emotions but the look on Tyson's face was a veritable mixture of confusion, intrigue and many other things.

This look was soon replaced with a sly smile and a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

"Naomi huh?"

Should've seen that coming...

Ray rolled his eyes briefly before turning to look at the group of three.

"Yes, I went for a walk with Naomi. That's all we did. Walk."

Tyson furrowed his eyebrows as Ray turned back to the television so that he could continue channel surfing.

"What? No making out? Is it just me or are you the only one in this house that gets no action? Don't you get horny, dude?"

Ray's eyebrows knitted together as he slowly turned to give Tyson a classic 'What the Fuck' sort of look.

"Hiro's right. You really don't think before you speak. Besides, don't you think that's a personal question?" Ray turned back towards the T.V. set but his reaction to the flau red eyed male's comment wasn't yet complete, "Naomi is just my friend. Guys and Girls can just be friends without having any type of sexual desire for one another..."

"So she thinks you're gay?"

That's when he threw a throw pillow at Tyson's head. "Just be quiet and discuss your stalkers plan..."

Tyson wasn't fast enough to dodge the attack so he just took it and caught the pillow as it fell into his lap, "Hey, I'm just asking! And I don't know what freaky world you live in but what you said about guys and girls is complete bullshit,"

Ray rolled his eyes, "We're all friends with Hilary,"

"Yeah but thats totally different! No one would consider sleeping with her since we all know that'd be like sleeping with a manatee!"

As mean as it was, Ray and everyone else couldn't help but chuckle at Tyson's comment.

"You honestly believe guys and girls can't be friends Tyson?"

"Well..." The navy haired boy paused as he carefully thought about his words. "They can be friends, but at least one of them has probably thought about the other one naked. I mean, come on... haven't you stopped to think about what Naomi looks like naked. I mean, I have!"

Ray turned to look at Tyson with a somewhat stunned expression, "Do you ever take time out of your day to not be perverted?!"

Tyson shrugged, "What!? I've thought about all of them naked at least once!"

Max and Kenny turned to look at Tyson now, not sure what to think or say. Tyson looked back at them and shrugged again.

"WHAT!? Don't even act like you guys didn't do it after we met 'em!"

Max and Kenny refrained from speaking and Ray couldn't conclude if they had indeed done what Tyson said he did. In any case, Ray was beginning to feel some slight annoyance with the conversation topic.

"Just drop it Tyson. We're just friends. Stop being a pervert."

Tyson snorted, "Fine, whatever dude..." With that, he rolled his eyes and turned back to converse with Kenny and Max.

Ray thought he was in the clear but another sly look spread across Tyson's face like wildfire as he subtly glanced over his shoulder at the Chinese beyblader sitting in the armchair.

"So... Do you think black and red's her natural hair colour?"

Without a word Ray got up onto his feet and dropped the remote in the seat he had been resting in. He headed for the living room doorway looking fairly sourly at Tyson.

As he passed by the annoying blue haired boy, Ray smacked him in the back of the head then was gone. Max and Kenny howled with laughter and as much as the smack hurt, so did Tyson.

"Oh come on! I was kidding!"

* * *

><p>Ray walked towards his room and noticed- much to his own surprise- that Kai's door was open.<p>

He thought about popping in to see what his quiet friend was up too but decided against it. Kai was probably going to give him more one word answers like he had been doing all week and shut him out.

Ray continued on past Kai's door but the slate haired male caught his attention by sitting up and calling out to him. Ray stopped and walked backwards until he and Kai were both back in each other's sights.

Ray cocked an eyebrow, silently asking what it was that Kai wanted.

Kai looked at Ray then motioned for him to come in. The golden eyed male complied and walked in. The half Russian quickly told him to shut the door and with his foot, Ray did.

The Chinese blader took a seat at the foot of Kai's bed and turned to his friend with a questioning look.

"So you're talking again?" He asked, lazily folding his arms.

Kai brushed off the question, "I think... I like Hilary... like... really like her..."

For a long while there was nothing but eerie silence in the as Ray and Kai stared blankly at one another. It wasn't until Ray's eyes lit up like lights and he threw his hands up in the air did either of them move.

"God! Finally!" he exclaimed, getting up on his feet with a rather amused look on his handsome face, "What took so long?"

Kai cocked an annoyed brow, "Excuse me?"

Ray in turn held up his hands in defence, "I'm not saying I knew you liked her I was just hoping that maybe you two would..." he let his voice trail off as Kai sent him an icy glare that looked as if it were telling him to be silent.

"So you were hoping for this the whole time?" Kai asked, his tone still sounding annoyed. He leaned back into his bedding and pillows then placed his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. He still wore that icy glare and Ray was sure it was going to cause the roof to freeze.

"Sort of," He admitted, "After I found out that Hilary liked you I began to think what it would mean if you liked her back. I think you two would work out pretty well..."

Kai turned to look at him now. His cold stare had gone away so Ray assumed that it was safe to continue his speech.

"You're a bit... ill-tempered while she's more... happy-go-lucky. I think maybe Hilary'll have a positive effect on you. You're already good friends, there's nothing wrong with wanting to pursue a higher form of companionship..."

"Well, thank you Oprah." Although his expression had softened, it seemed Kai's sarcasm was still very evident.

"You couldn't even say Dr. Phil? Hell I would've settled for Maury!"

Kai sent Ray another 'shut the hell up' expression and Ray merely chuckled.

"I was joking... but seriously... If you like Hilary let her know... before you end up sending her to a madhouse."

"I kissed her..."

"...Kai, stop messing around. I'm serious you need to say something."

"I am serious. I kissed her. When I went to see her, we argued then... she kissed me and I kissed her back."

Ray retook his seat at the foot of Kai's bed as he took all this information in. He nodded, letting Kai know he was processing all of it.

"Well, that's sort of just a reaction thing when you're overcome with emotions..."

Kai furrowed his eyebrows as he sat back up again and looked Ray dead in the eyes. "I don't think you really get what I'm saying. I didn't just kiss her, like 'yeah I like you'- peck on the lips!"

Ray's eyebrows rose in shock but he kept quiet and allowed Kai to go on.

"She kissed me and pulled away but... I pulled her back in and kissed her. And it wasn't an innocent kiss I'll tell you that much,"

Ray couldn't help but look even more shocked. "You guys made out?"

"Basically... then her parents walked in..."

"Oh God..."

"No kidding,"

"I'm guessing that means you're pretty much banned from the house..." Ray paused, "What about Hilary? Is she still allowed to come here?"

Kai shrugged, "Haven't spoken to her since..."

"Make you feel uneasy?"

Kai stayed quiet as he thought about it for a moment. He pretty much had been walking around being upset, frustrated, extremely pissed off and on edge for the past three days so he guessed Ray's hypothesis on how he was currently feeling was quite accurate.

"I guess..." he somewhat confirmed. Not sure as to how to elaborate any further.

Ray nodded as a smile came to his lips. "Look at that... you do like her..."

The half Russian's expression fell as soon as he caught that playful tone in Ray's voice. He wasn't in the mood for jokes or mocking for the time being. Sending him another glare, Ray pulled back with another wary stance.

"Alright. I won't poke fun, I'm sorry." He said, "So... what's the plan?"

Kai shrugged. He honestly had no idea. In fact he was hoping Hilary would find a way to make it back to the dojo since Kai didn't want to take a chance in going back over to the Tachibana house.

"Have you tried calling Hilary?"

In all honesty, Kai hadn't but he assumed her phone privileges had probably been revoked. Kai wanted to let Ray know just how compromising a position he and Hilary were in when her parents had caught them but he didn't. It seemed too humiliating.

Sighing, Ray leaned back and supported himself on his arms. "What about emailing her? That might work."

Kai waved that idea off as well, with the revoking of phone privileges, he assumed internet or any form of communication went with it. Kai hadn't been with his parents since he was young but from what he gathered, when you were in trouble, they took everything away until you felt like a Mormon.

Another long silence fell between the two as Ray tried to think of other forms of communication, none seemed urgent of effective enough. Until it hit him.

"You could always asked one of the girls..."

Kai cocked a brow at him.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tachibana probably don't want Hilary interacting with anyone of the male gender so why not ask help from someone of the female gender?"

The slate haired beyblader sent Ray another one of his sarcastic glances.

"What makes you think that that's a good idea?"

Ray had to think about it. He knew Kai was never really the type to ask for actual help. He knew his friend didn't mind receiving advice from time to time but asking a fourth party- since Ray was already a third party- to help with the declaration of feelings was simply out of the question if it had any relation to Kai.

But then again...

"It's the only option you have right now..."

Kai grunted as he removed his hands from the back of his head to run them down his distress filled face. He grunted again as he thought it over.

"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice..." he grumbled.

Ray half smiled, "Not Really..."

* * *

><p>Night had fallen but Max found himself awake.<p>

He was sitting in the kitchen with only the light above the stove was lit since he didn't want to disturb anyone that had their door open. The blonde sat at the table, deep in thought as he looked at the time digitally displayed on his cell phone.

Sometime after Ray had left the room, there had been another news bulletin about Bey part robberies but this time they had broken into the shops themselves. Mr. Mizuhara's shop being one of the places that had been robbed.

Max planned on visiting his dad soon but now things seems really urgent. Apparently the thieves had left back quite a mess and even though insurance could cover it all, Max felt that he had to be at his Dad shop tomorrow to salvage anything that hadn't been stolen or damaged.

The blue eyed male sighed as she placed his phone into his pocket and finally got up out of his seat. It was two in the morning and he was going to force himself to get some sleep.

Max walked over to the stove and turned off the light.

Much to his own surprise he could see fairly well as he walked out into the hall way. The street lights were blaring though the front door and living room windows so it wasn't as hard for the young beyblader to work his way around.

He was about to head for the bedrooms when he suddenly heard a somewhat loud commotion somewhere outside. It was soon followed by hushed laughter and irritated groans and curse words.

Max followed the sound, preparing himself for the worst but as he drew closer, her figured that the voices he was hear were female. Sure that shouldn't have been enough for him to let his guard down but he picked up on a recognizable voice.

At first Max felt himself to be rather excited since it was Torah's voice he had deciphered first but his mind was soon filled with the question; "What was she doing up at this time of night..." As a matter of fact... what was she even doing outside.

Max crept to the front of the house and stayed low, making sure he wouldn't be seen as he went to spy out through the living room window.

It gave him a clear view of the neighbours standing out on the sidewalk in those neon coloured get ups he and the others had seen them in before.

They were all huddled rather closely and they all seemed to be trying their best not to make noise since Toni kept looking at all of them with a stern gaze.

"Quiet! Are you tryna wake the neighbourhood?!" Toni snapped, causing the group to quiet down significantly.

That was all Max really made out since he could no longer hear them.

Springing up from his spot, Max dashed down the hall and headed for Tyson's bedroom. He stumbled and nearly knocked his teeth out when he practically ran into the door frame but the blonde violently began shaking his navy haired friend in an attempted to get him to wake up.

"Tyson! Tyson! Get up, they're outside!"

When Tyson did awake, the world champion was so in a daze that it took him awhile to grasp that it had been Max that had shaken him out of sleep.

"The girls are outside!" Max notified him again and that's what finally woke Tyson up.

"Huh? Wha- go... go wake Kenny," He ordered as she slowly got up out of bed. Max did as he was told and went to wake Kenny.

Since Kenny was spending another night over and had his sleeping bag set up in Max's room, the blonde merely rushed in, closed the door and flicked the light on.

This caused Kenny to jump right out of his sleep.

"What? Wha...?" Kenny began looking around frantically but stopped as he noticed Max standing by the door. He reached for his glasses and put them on. "What's going on?" he asked as he watched Max head over to his closet.

The blonde removed a pair of jeans and slipped them on over his pyjamas.

"Tyson wants you to get up. The girls are outside."

Kenny grunted as he threw his sleeping bag open with frustration. "You need to stop humouring him! Max, it's two in the morning.

It wasn't long before Tyson came bursting into the room. He had done the same as Max with putting on just a pair of jeans but luckily for Tyson, they were already laying across his bed so he didn't have to turn on the light and wake Daichi.

"What!? He's not dressed!? Get up!" Tyson urged in a whisper.

"Tyson! Its two in the morning!"

"Don't care." He stated and leapt over to the brunette. Tyson grabbed Kenny by the arm and began dragging him and Max down the hall. They could hear Hiro's car keys jingling in his pants' pocket.

"Are you two serious?! Don't you think you're being obses-SIVE!" He yelled the last syllable because Tyson had practically flung him towards the front door and told him to put his shoes on.

Kenny continued to protest but neither Tyson nor Max was hearing any of it as they carefully watched the girls through the window.

"They're still there. Quick to the car!" Tyson ordered as he opened the front door. Hiro had left his car in the driveway so it made the boys plans a bit less difficult.

Max took hold of Kenny and followed Tyson out onto the patio. The boys kept low but Kenny was beginning to panic, mostly because he was tired and wasn't sure how to react to all this.

"Guys! Do we really have to do this! They could just be out talking!"

Tyson snorted, "Do you get out of bed to go talk outside?"

"No, but apparently I get shaken out of bed to be forced into stalking!"

Tyson ignored Kenny's comment and finally they all reached Hiro's black Mitsubishi Gallant. They all listened closely as Tyson unlocked the doors with the car remote. In one swift motion, Tyson got into the drivers seat and forced Kenny into the back while Max rode shotgun.

"I'm doing this because I care. What if they get hurt in... whatever the hell they're doing!?"

Kenny sighed as Tyson quiet rolled down the window to listen in some more.

"Maybe you need to go back into the dojo and get some more sleep. I'm sure the girls will be-"

Tyson turned to look at Kenny in the back seat. He sent the beyblade engineer a menacing look before stating; "We Are Going..." He said it as if it had been written in stone.

That's when Kenny decided just to sit back and be quiet.

It took maybe seven to ten minutes before Tyson heard the girls heading out. He listened as the all got into the cab and as it loudly started to drive off, Tyson brought the engine to life.

He pulled out the driveway, but made sure to do it so slowly. As soon as the cab turned the corner, Tyson pulled the car fully out of the driveway and headed in the opposite direction. This caused both Kenny and Max to give him a few questioning looks.

"Every time we've followed them, they head out to the main street, right?" He didn't give them time to answer as he went on with his explanation, "If I go this way instead of following them around the corner, it looks less suspicious! Guys come on!" he snapped as he hit his fist against the top of the steering wheel, "Its like you've never seen a Bond movie in your lives!"

Max and Kenny quickly glanced at one another before quickly putting on their seat belts.

* * *

><p>Tyson tried to drive as... un-suspiciously as possible... or at least that was how he put it. He followed the cab and kept fairly far back. There were a few cars on the road but as he continued to follow the girls the amount of vehicles on the road began to lessen.<p>

"Tyson... are you absolutely sure this is a good idea?" Kenny asked, only getting back a loud 'Shh!' in response.

The trio continued to follow the cab through the city and out to the abandoned stadium. They all wore inquisitive looks as they noticed the extreme amount of activity around the rundown place.

"What the- wasn't this place suppose to be demolished?" Tyson asked, looking around at all the people walking around. only a few actually drove.

"It was suppose to be but the city still has yet to tear it down," Kenny said. He was pretty much stating the obvious but everyone was too tired to care.

Tyson, Max and Kenny had gotten so caught up in the sea of people that when Tyson turned to look ahead of him, he noticed that he had lost sight of the cab. Tyson's jaw fell open in shock just before he smacked his first against the rim of the steering wheel again.

He cursed a serious of curse words both in English and Japanese. Once he got that out of his system, Tyson threw his hands up in frustration before putting his forehead to the wheel.

"Damn it!" he grumbled angrily, "Lost them..."

Kenny had the urge to say something along the lines of 'I told you so' or 'we should've just stayed asleep' but the brunette knew better. Kenny knew Tyson would probably start up a new string of cursing if he said anything of the sort.

As Tyson slowly began bopping his head against the Gallant's steering wheel, Kenny and Max took to looking out the window, complete amazing at the obscene turn out of people heading into the abandoned stadium.

"What's going on?" Max asked aloud looking around then stopping to look at Kenny, "You don't think its been reopened, do you?"

Kenny adjusted his glasses, "I don't think that's the case. If it was, they would've announced it on T.V. or something,"

Max began looking around again; "Maybe its secret event and they won't announce it till later..."

To that, Kenny just shrugged.

Finally coming out of his defeated state, Tyson raised his head and quickly looked around. "Guess we better head back home... We'll never find them now..." he sighed.

"I sup-" Kenny's words died at the tip of his tongue as he stared intensely out the window. He quickly cleaned his glasses in his pyjama's and rubbed his eyes in order to make sure he was actually seeing what he saw.

"T-Tyson! Max!" the nerdy brunette yelped as he rapidly tapped both of their seats. They turned to see what the fuss was all about with cocked eyebrows. "D-Daichi! Is that Daichi!?"

Max and Tyson's heads quickly spun in the direction Kenny had been pointing. It took a moment but soon enough both boys spotted the youngest member of their team.

"What the- How the hell did he get here!?" Tyson asked, pressing his face to his window.

"But... wasn't he asleep!?" Max questioned looking to Tyson for answers. Tyson nodded. He was sure Daichi had been asleep in the bed across from his.

Doubt soon filled Tyson's mind as he thought about it some more. Daichi had been missing all day and had arrived back to the dojo sometime early in the evening. The redhead had said he was going to bed and that was the last time Tyson had seen him until he decided to turn in himself.

Tyson paused he remembered entering the room and Daichi being there asleep.

"No way... he wouldn't..." Tyson thought harder. He did indeed remember seeing a figure in Daichi's bed but the question now was; had that really been Daichi sleeping or something else like a lump of clothing and a basketball. "That's little sneak! What would he be doing-" Tyson stopped his own speech as a possible idea as to why Daichi was here came into his psyche.

"What Tyson?" Kenny asked, suddenly noticing the navy haired male's silence.

"Maybe he's with his girlfriend," he smirked.

"It's two in the morn- NO, correction. It's nearly THREE in the morning!" Kenny shot back irritably.

"Oh, like you wouldn't sneak out of the house for some pus-"

"TYSON!" Kenny had to cut him off. It was evident that Tyson's decency plummeted significantly when he was suffering from lack of sleep.

"Do you really think it's Daichi?" Max questioned looking towards both his teammates. Kenny seemed a bit unsure now but Tyson nodded.

"Yeah. That's the butt monkey... but where's his girlfriend?"

"Maybe he's waiting for her..."

"Maybe..." Tyson said softly as he brought the car window down, he leaned through it, trying to get a real good look at Daichi but he, Kenny and Max got the shot of their lives as they noticed a bob of bright baby blue hair came skipping up to the fifteen year old.

"MING-MING?!" They all gasped in unison.

"What's she doing-" The question Tyson was about to voice was immediately answered as Ming-Ming came up and wrapped her arms around Daichi's waist. The redhead half smiled before leaning in to kiss her. She met him half way.

"Oh my God..."

"Daichi and... Ming-Ming?"

"HOLY FLAMING BEYBLADES, BATMAN!"

At that, Kenny and Max couldn't help but look at Tyson curiously.

"Holy flaming beyblades, Batman? Seriously?" Max questioned, trying his hardest not to laugh.

"It's been a long night! So sue me!"


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

For what seemed like an eternity; Kenny, Max and Tyson sat in the black Mitsubishi with they're mouths hanging open like doors that were falling of their hinges.

They continued to watch Ming-Ming and Daichi be affectionate to each other and as that all sunk in, they trio just sat there, unable to believe it.

"Daichi and Ming-Ming... Daichi and... Ming-Ming?" Tyson kept repeating under his breath. The more he said it, the stranger it sounded. He kept repeating it and repeating it until Kenny finally snapped.

The glasses wearing beyblade engineer turned to Tyson and pushed the back of his seat with incredible strength and force.

"Okay Tyson! We get it!" He yelled. The brunette unbuckled himself and opened the car door in order to step out. Kenny slammed the door behind him as he walked a heated path towards the young couple.

Tyson and Max exchanged a quick glance before hurrying themselves out of the car to follow him.

Kenny weened his way through the crowd, keeping his eyes completely focused on the blue haired girl and his redheaded teammate. Once he was close enough, Kenny called Daichi's name. His tone was more of an angry growl than anything else.

Daichi snapped his head to look in the direction he heard his name being called in and froze completely. Kenny, as well as Max and Tyson were in his sights and the fifteen year old didn't seem to know what to do at this point.

Ming-Ming began looking in the same direction then looked back at Daichi.

"Hey... Aren't those you're teammates?" She asked. She seemed confused at first but soon turned hopeful. Had Daichi told them about their relationship? She smiled because that's what she was hoping.

As Kenny drew closer, Ming-Ming could feel Daichi stiffen but she didn't make the connection. She was too pleased with thinking that she and Daichi would no longer have to hide their relationship.

"Daichi..." Kenny breathed as he reached the couple. Tyson and Max soon caught up and stuck close to Kenny just in case.

Daichi looked from Kenny to Tyson and Max then back again. "What're you guys doin' here!?" he asked, sounding rather startled.

"Better question is why are YOU here?!" Kenny shot back. He knew half of the answer.

Daichi wanted to think of something to say and lie but Ming-Ming turned to him with curious eyes and he knew if he lied, he'd hurt her feelings and they'd fight again. He really wasn't in the mood to argue with both his girlfriend and one of his best friends.

"Daichi... are you in trouble?" Ming-Ming questioned in a hushed tone.

Daichi began to panic a little bit but still manage to keep himself fairly calm. "Uh... I..." he looked at Kenny, who was staring daggers at him, then back at Ming-Ming who sent him bewildered puppy dog eyes.

He kept looking back and forth between the two before finally making a decision on what to deal with first. Daichi sighed heavily for releasing Ming-Ming and looking at her sheepishly.

"Yeah... big trouble..." He said before turning to Kenny, "I can explain-"

"Explain!? Explain what Daichi!? How do you explain something like this! You knew I liked Ming-Ming, you _KNEW_!"

The blue haired pop star furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion as she looked at Kenny. What was going on? She desperately wanted to ask but the look on Daichi's face gave her the feeling that now wasn't the best time. She backed away as the sudden feeling of animosity came washing over her.

"Kenny, let me explain-"

"Save it, you bastard! I can't believe you'd do this to a friend! I'd hate to be your enemy- What would you do then, huh Daichi!? What if we weren't friends, would you rub it in my face?"

"I was gonna tell ya!" Daichi snapped back.

"When!? When you brought her to the dojo with a wedding ring on?" Kenny knew he was over exaggerating but he was too upset to care. Getting fed up with the current conversation Kenny just turned back around and stomped a heated path back to the car.

He pushed past both Max and Tyson and the two watched the brunette storm off. They turned back to look at Daichi.

"Dude... that's not cool..." Tyson commented, not making the situation any better. He and Max soon turned away to follow Kenny back to the car and Daichi ran his fingers over his face trying to figure out a way to fix all this.

"Dude, I'm sorry!" he yelled but the only response he received back was the slamming of one of the car doors. Tyson and Max soon climbed into the car but surprisingly they didn't immediately drive off. Daichi looked back at Ming-Ming, who looked back at him still confused.

"Daichi...? What just..." Her voice trailed off.

"Uh... stay here," He told her before going to run up to Hiro's car. Tyson and Max were talking to Kenny when Daichi came running up to knock on the window.

"Kenny! I need to talk to you!"

Kenny glanced at him but ignored Daichi completely after that. The redhead with the scar on his forehead tried to pull open Kenny's door but it was locked. He turned to look at Tyson, slightly begging for help and Tyson sent back an apologetic expression as he brought the black Gallant back to life.

Tyson mouthed a quick, 'Sorry dude' before putting the vehicle in drive.

* * *

><p>Daichi had managed to get Ming-Ming and her driver to drive him back to the dojo fairly quickly after Tyson and the others had left. He thought about just leaving the whole situation until he saw Kenny tomorrow but that seemed to late.<p>

During the whole car ride, Daichi and Ming-Ming had been nothing but silent and the beyblading pop star felt it to be rather unnerving. She bit her lip and fiddle with her hair and fingers. She wanted to say something to fill the silence but she knew Daichi was too lost in thought.

When they arrived at the dojo, both noticed Hiro's car in the driveway.

As Daichi prepared to get out of Ming-Ming's town car she quickly stopped him by placing a supportive hand on his arm.

"Call me... okay?" She requested before pulling Daichi down to her and kissing his lips. When they pulled away Daichi nodded but didn't look at her, which in turn made her heart sink. "Bye..." she said before letting him close the door.

Daichi walked a dead man's walk to the dojo and up the steps. He heard as Ming-Ming's car pulled away and it made him cringe thinking about how he had to deal with all of this. Not only was he going to have to explain himself to Kenny but he was going to have to do it again to Ming-Ming when he called her.

The redhead pulled his key out of his pocket but when he put it in the keyhole, he noticed the door was already unlocked. Walking in, Daichi soon found the trio sitting in the living room. Kenny was angrily pacing but stopped as soon as he caught sight of Daichi in the living room doorway.

He narrowed his eyes and Daichi advanced with caution.

"Kenny. It's not what you think..."

"Oh, so you and Ming-Ming kissing was just a figment of my imagination?! I'm not stupid Daichi! I saw you two!"

In all the years Daichi had known Kenny, he'd never seen the beyblade engineer get this mad. As as matter of fact, Kenny had never risen his voice in anger, never in Daichi's presence.

"Was she the one you ditched us all for?"

Daichi said nothing.

"ANSWER ME!"

"... Yeah..."

Kenny was fuming now and he began pacing again, "I can't believe you..."

"I was gonna tell you, I swear-"

"When Daichi?!" Kenny snapped as he turned to look at the emerald eyed boy. He was visibly shaking with rage now.

"...Soon?" he seemed unsure of his answer.

"Soon...? Soon!? How long have you two been dating!?"

"Awhile,"

"How long is a while Daichi!?"

"...Awhile..."

Kenny turned away and repeated himself but this time not as loudly, "How long... is a while?"

"... Longer than two weeks..."

Longer than two weeks didn't seem like a significantly lengthy amount of time but to someone who's heart was about to be broken it might as well have been an eternity.

"Two weeks...?" Kenny sighed but began to laugh. His laugh wasn't his usual cheerful or nervous laugh. sounded warped and demented.

The glasses wearing brunette had walked all the way to the other end of the room and spun around to look at Daichi. His expression did nothing to hide his pain.

"Four years... it's practically been for years..."

Daichi cringed. It was true, Kenny's crush for Ming-Ming had been going strong for approximately four years now.

"Four years... and in two weeks you two are already all over each other...?"

The room went bone chilling silent as Kenny looked down at his feet.

"In my defence, _she_ asked _me_ out," It wasn't much of a defence since that seemed to get Kenny even angrier.

"Seriously?" He asked. His tone didn't sound as enraged so Daichi assumed that it was time for him to dish the story about how he and Ming-Ming's relationship started.

He nodded, "She called me to hang out. I didn't want to go at first but... I dunno! When we started hanging out I didn't hate her as much..."

Kenny's eyebrows knitted together but he let Daichi keep talking.

"We started hanging out more and she said she liked me and... I started... liking her back,"

Although that seemed to be the end of Daichi's explanation, Kenny continued to go without speaking. He refrained from looking at Daichi and focused down a his feet as he gripped the arm of the chair next to him.

"But you hated her..."

"Yeah, but-"

"But nothing!" Kenny snapped as he looked at Daichi, "You _hated_ her!"

"I don't now!" Daichi snapped back. He heard the sounds of doors opening and he knew this was all going to blow up into one big scene as soon as they other Blade breakers came waltzing in. It wasn't long before a very tired and irritated Ray, Kai and Hiro came walking into the living room.

"What the hell is going on? Guys..." Hiro paused as he looked towards the digital time display below the television. "It's three thirty! What the hell is going on!?"

"Nothing." Kenny quickly answered.

Both Tyson and Max looked at him from the couch. They had been sitting there in silence the whole time, not sure what to do.

"Then why the fuck are you being so loud?" Kai asked groggily before running his fingers through his unkempt hair.

"Sorry." Kenny apologized before turning his back on everyone.

"Kenny... don't be mad... I'm sorry but-" Daichi was about to say his piece but that's when Kenny snapped. He had been trying his best not to blow up but he couldn't take it any longer. The thought of Daichi and Ming-Ming together, laughing, hugging, kissing, doing absolutely everything Kenny imagined he'd do with Ming-Ming if they ever got together... it made him extremely angry and there was no stopping what came out his mouth next.

"Fuck you..."

The whole room stopped and seemed to freeze as everyone looked at Kenny with wide eyes. Kenny never swore and if he did he absolutely never dropped the F bomb.

Daichi's eyebrows slopped together, "Ken-"

"No! Save it! Fuck you Daichi! You knew I liked her, that's bad enough but to think that you use to absolute despise Ming-Ming and now your all over her! Not only does that make you a hypocrite but a giant asshole as well!" Kenny balled his fist at his sides and he walked another heated path towards Daichi but stopped at least five feet away. "You're a bastard... A selfish bastard..."

Daichi knew he probably deserved everything that came out of Kenny's mouth but being the way he was, Daichi couldn't take anymore of Kenny's verbal assaults. He decided to snap back.

"Hey! I tried to say sorry! You're just being a little bitch now!"

"Why should I listen to you Daichi!? You make fun of me all the time, you pick on me and I take it because you're my friend and I thought all this time that maybe you were joking! Turns out you really were mocking me..."

"What the hell! I was joking! You're my friend-"

"Oh yeah!? What friend goes behind another friend's back and steals the girl that he's been crushing on for four years!? WHAT FRIEND DOES THAT?!"

Ray, Kai and Hiro all turned to look at Daichi with shocked expressions. It didn't take them much time to guess that this all had to do with Ming-Ming which they all figured out had to be Daichi's mystery girl.

"Oh that's cold..." Kai murmured, not at all helping the situation.

Daichi wanted to let Kenny rant but his pride wouldn't let him. He looked at the brunette with fiery eyes as he gave breathing heavily in a cheap attempt to calm down. He even bit his lip but the way Kenny stared back at him with pure disgust was what forced Daichi over the edge.

"It ain't my fault that she wanted me and not you!"

Tyson and Max's eyes went wide while Ray, Kai and Hiro actually backed away slightly. The look on Kenny's face that followed after Daichi's statement let everyone in the room know that the fifteen year old was really touching a nerve now.

Things were going to get ugly.

"It ain't my fault that you didn't make a move! It ain't my fault that she chose me and not you! If you grew some balls, maybe you'd have her!" Daichi took a step forward while Kenny took a step back, "Ming-Ming is MY girlfriend and your just gonna have tah deal with it!"

Before anyone could make a move, Kenny lunged at Daichi. The two fell back onto the living room floor but Kenny got in a few good punches before Tyson and Max ran to tear him off of the redhead. As they pulled Kenny away Daichi bounced back and tackled Kenny just as Tyson and Max let go of him.

The two fought each other and for a moment no one seemed to know what to do. Tyson and Max tried to get in and stop their two friends from fighting but both Kenny and Daichi forced them back with attacks.

Both Daichi and Kenny had gone in to choke one another but they pulled back when they both needed air. Kenny's glasses had been discarded now and he was pretty much going on sound and the crude red of Daichi's hair since he couldn't properly see.

"You're such an asshole Daichi..." Kenny breathed as he prepared to attack again.

"I don't care what you call me! In tha end it's me she's kissin', not you." Daichi's words were like acid laced fangs as they dug into Kenny. Loosing it, Kenny ran at Daichi and tackled him. The two fell back onto the coffee table and broke it.

Kenny was choking and banging Daichi's head against the wood of the table as Daichi tried to fight Kenny off my punching him. Kenny took two good punches before pulling back. Leaving himself open, Daichi sprang up and punched Kenny again in the jaw, drawing blood.

"Holy shit..." Hiro breathed as he and Ray finally dove in to stop the fight. They thought if the two just fought it out everything would just set itself right again. That was the typical male logistic of a situation like this but it was getting extremely out of hand.

Hiro got hold of Kenny just in time and forced him out of harms way. The brunette kicked and tried fighting his way out of Hiro's grasp but it wasn't long until he gave up since Ray already had Daichi pinned with his arms behind his back.

"Cool it." Hiro ordered as he looked at Kenny then shoved the brunette away. Kenny stumbled but took a seat on the window sill. It took a bit more to calm Daichi down but eventually he did and the redhead was released.

Daichi was sent to the other side of the room and he and Kenny glared daggers at one another.

Kenny got to his feet and Hiro was prepared to hold him back again but Kenny just shook his head. He was finished for the night. "I'm going home..." he announced as he wiped the blood from his nose and lip. Daichi did the same.

"I'm calling my mom to let her know I'm on my way..." With that Kenny went to leave the room. The others thought Daichi would charge past Ray and Hiro and go for him again but all he did was watch Kenny leave.

For a long while no one moved as they all looked around the room. There were a few loud exhales before Daichi announced that he wanted to go to bed.

Not taking any chances, Hiro assigned for Ray to walk Daichi back to his and Tyson's bedroom. Kai left with them since he just wanted to go back to sleep.

Hiro ran his palm over his face and through his hair as he looked at Tyson and Max.

"Max, get the first aid kit for Kenny and give some of the stuff to Ray for Daichi. Tyson, go check on Kenny..."

The two friends nodded before leaving the room to deal with their assigned jobs.

* * *

><p>Kenny had planned on getting a taxi and taking that to get home but his mother was so worried that she ended up coming to pick him up herself. The wait had been surprisingly long for Kenny but that might've been because he just wanted to get out of the dojo.<p>

As Kenny quickly made his way to his mother's car with all of his belongings the neighbours watched in complete silence as they stopped on their veranda.

Kenny slammed the car door and he and his mother, Mrs. Saien drove off into the night. The girls all exchanged glanced but it wasn't long until Ray and Tyson came out to toss the busted coffee table out by the garbage.

The girls had only just arrived back home and they were very curious as to what had happened but they wouldn't know until tomorrow morning.

* * *

><p>When tomorrow did come; Torah, Tiky and Kierra were the first one's ready. They waited while the others got dressed but they felt as if their teammates were taking way too long.<p>

Torah shouted that she, Tiky and Kierra would meet the rest of them next door and with that they were out onto the patio, down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk. They cautiously made their way next door and feebly waved as the noticed Hiro open the door for the morning paper.

The blue haired twenty-two year old waved back and forced a smile as he watched the girls enter the yard.

"Mornin'..." they all said in unison.

"Morning..." he said back, "Looking for the others?" he asked.

Torah, Kierra and Tiky all walked up to the front steps and nodded.

"You look tired..." Tiky stated, causing Torah to nudge her in the side. She didn't want their prying to seem that obvious.

Hiro merely chuckled and nodded as he sipped the coffee out of his mug. "Quite a night we had over here last night..."

"What happened?! We saw your coffee table by the garbage and it was broken so-" Kierra began but Torah kicked her from behind Tiky then sent her a look at told the bubbly girl to stop speaking now.

Hiro sighed as he stepped aside. This was a motion letting the girls know he was inviting them inside. They took the invite and quickly notified the Blade breakers' captain that the rest of their team was planning on dropping by fairly soon.

Hiro nodded before sending the girls to the kitchen. He was too tired to deal with speaking so he sent them to go and get information from the others.

Tiky, Kierra and Torah all walked into the kitchen and looked around at the Blade breakers. Tyson and Max were still half asleep but only Tyson was to the point of almost falling asleep in his food.

Ray was standing by the stove. The power was off and it was evident that he had cooked breakfast but he looked just as tired as Max and Tyson.

Kai was sitting at the table, lazily eating but Daichi was no where to be seen.

"Wow... who died?" Tiky asked, earning her another nudge from Torah.

"Will you two just stop talking!" the sienna skinned female angrily murmured. She turned to the Blade breakers with a toothy grin right after cursing at her two teammates to be quiet. "Mornin'..." she greeted in a low tone.

The boys all greeted her back but very feebly. Max looked up from his food and smiled warmly as he caught sight of Torah. He outstretched his arms for a hug and she was more than happy to accept but when Kierra and Tiky came to give Max a hug as well Torah just looked at them like they were foolish.

"He meant me guys..." Torah informed, causing both Tiky and Kierra to put their arms down.

"But... I want a morning hug from a hottie," Tiky quietly whined as she looked at Kierra.

Torah went over to hug Max but he didn't seem ready to let go when she planned on pulling away. Not wanting to disobey his wishes, Torah merely took a seat on Max's lap and he rested his head on her shoulder.

"You okay?" she asked as Tiky and Kierra took seats at the table.

Max shook his head as he yawned. "Long night..."

"What happened?" Tiky asked abruptly, not being able to take it anymore. She was itching to know what had happened last night. So had Kierra and Torah but Tiky was much more impatient.

"Yeah," Torah began as she narrowed her eyes at Tiky but she turned to look down at Max with a soft expression. "What happened?"

Max sighed loudly before looking up at Torah. He didn't give all the details but he let the nosey girls know what had happened at the dojo last night.

The girls couldn't help but gasp.

"Are Daichi and Kenny okay?"

"Yeah, we saw Kenny leave last-" Tiky was about to spill the beans but Kierra pinched her and stopped her from saying anything further. "ow..."

"Yeah..." Tyson piped as he groggily opened his eyes, "Kenny left..."

"It was a really bad fight..." Max informed as he looked up at Torah again.

"Hiro told us they broke the coffee table..." Torah said. Not true, but who'd ask if it was?

Max nodded as he rested his head on her shoulder again; "Yup..."

"Drew blood and everything..." Tyson put in, his eyes were closed again and he was using his upturned palm to keep his head up.

The girls gasped again.

"Is Kenny okay?" Kierra asked, "Daichi seems the type to handle a fight..."

Tyson shrugged, "Haven't talked to him yet..."

Silence fell over the kitchen for what seemed like a very long time. They all heard when the rest of the Sweet and Sour Candies came dropping in. They all came through the kitchen doorway in just under a minute and they were met with eerie silence.

"Shit. Who died?" Kat asked but unlike Tiky she didn't sound as concerned.

Tyson rolled his eyes as he turned to look at the group.

"Hiro!" he yelled, "You're not supposed to let evil in the house!... Or else it won't leave..." Tyson had mumbled the last part but Kat had heard him and went over to smack his arm from right under his chin. Nearly causing Tyson's to face plant into his food.

"Shut up." She barked before folding her arms over her chest.

"Damn." Toni said as the looked around the room. "Somethin' big must'a went down last night. You look a mess..." her gazed stopped at Tyson and she drew closer to the tan skinned world champion.

"Thanks," He commented in a sarcastic response. Tyson outstretched his arm for a hug like Max had done with Torah and Toni gave him one. She even did the same in sitting in his lap but she ran her fingers through his hair as gently kissed his forehead before smirking.

"Wanna let a sista know what went down?"

Tyson grumbled, "Long story..."

"Don't worry. We've got time."

* * *

><p>Kat was out on the dojo patio with a few of her teammates and Ray. The cat-like male said he didn't feel like staying in the house so a few of the girls had followed him out onto the deck.<p>

They were all chatting, asking the Chinese boys details about last night but Kat was too caught up in looking at her cellphone to really listen anymore. Found out what she wanted to know and that satisfied her enough to focus on the time.

The female blader with the stony eyes pulled out her cellular phone once again to check the time then shoved it into her pocket as she looked out towards the street.

Taking notice of Kat's off behaviour Naomi went and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Are you waiting for something...?" she asked in the hushed voice of hers.

Kat looked at her briefly before turning to look back out at the road. "You can say that..." She said, keeping her gaze forward.

Not pressing another further, Naomi returned to sit with Ray, Tiky and Kierra.

Kat was about to check the time again but as she noticed a black Ford Taurus parked on the other side of the street. She looked over her shoulder at the group chit chatting behind her and was planning to just slip down the steps and towards the car but she knew that probably wasn't the best idea.

Instead, Kat cleared her throat and hoped she got Naomi's attention. She did then she silently motioned for the chocolate skinned female to come over to speak with her.

"Naomi, I'm goin' out for a bit. Distract the wonder twins," Kat requested as she pointed towards Tiky and Kierra. They had noticed them speaking since they were two busy getting information out of Ray.

Naomi nodded but turned to Kat with a curious look.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

Naomi was just so innocently adorable that Kat couldn't bare to lie to her. Caving, she looked over her shoulder at the car before holding up one finger to tell the driver that she'd be there in a minute.

"I'm... going out. I'll be back soon."

Naomi looked past Kat and towards the car but she didn't ask anymore questions, which Kat appreciated.

Patting Naomi on the shoulder she sneakingly ran off while Naomi blocked Tiky and Kierra's view of the cold blader.

Kat quietly opened the gate and ran to the car across the street. She opened the door and climbed in but made sure the people on the patio weren't look. She greeted the driver with a half smile and a "Hi."

"Hey..." he smiled back starting the car up again. "Ready to go?"

"I don't look ready?" she asked motioning towards herself.

His eyes couldn't help but take the invite and they quickly roamed over her before returning to look up at her face. He half smiled.

"You look good..."

"Just good?"

"You look great." He corrected as he drove the car forward.

Kat smirked as she relaxed back into the warm leather seats and brought the window down. She turned to look at the driver but as she did she reached over and plucked the sunglasses he had resting on the top of his head and placed them over her stone blue eyes.

"I like your ride..." she complimented before adjusting the seat to her liking.

The driver chuckled. "Thanks... so... where do you want to go?"

Kat shrugged, "It's your city Garland... surprise me..."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Although last night seemed to be full of dreadful fights, today was significantly better. It was obvious - since it was summertime - that the weather would be at it's best but unlike most of the days where it was obscenely hot, today was quite comfortable.

The rays of the sun were beating down on Kat's skin and she welcomed them by sticking her head out the window as the car came to a stop at the red light. Since rush hour wasn't for another hour and a half they're weren't that many cars on the road.

When the light turned green, Kat brought herself back into the car.

"Nice day today..." Garland said as he sideways glanced at her.

She removed the sunglasses from her eyes and nodded, "So... what's the penalty for a superstar athlete leaving when he's supposed to be doing a signing to go on a date?"

Garland smiled as he turned a corner and looked at Kat from the corner of his eyes again, "Nothing if I don't get caught..."

Kat could only image what would happen to him if he did get caught but she didn't bother asking about it any further. She didn't want to bring down the surprisingly cheery mood of this rendezvous.

It wasn't long until they finally reached a destination and at first Kat couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at the silver haired male in the driver's seat.

"A diner?" She asked as they both got out of the car.

"Don't conclude anything about it right now, just... come inside and I'm sure you'll like the place," he said with a smile. Garland had parked right in front of the food place and hopped up onto the sidewalk. He went over to Kat and out stretched his hand for her to take.

At first all she did was stare at it but with s half smirk she took it.

"You're much sweeter than I thought you'd be... That's for sure," Kat commented as she walked with him into the restaurant, hand in hand.

Of course the theme of the place was a 1950's diner and it even gave Kat the 'Grease' sort of feeling. She looked around taking in the sight and much to her own surprise at least seventy percent of the people in the diner were young couples.

"None of us were even born in the fifties... well... except those two," Kat commented pointing towards the old couple on the far end.

Garland couldn't help but laugh at her comment as he found them a place to sit, "Why should that matter? Its all about having fun... and remember our younger years," He said as he looked towards the elderly couple again.

This got Kat to smile.

"I guess..."

When the waitress came both Kat and Garland accessed her uniform. She looked like someone that had really just jumped out of the fifties. The uniform pale yellow dress, the apron, the roller skates, even her hair was done like a girl from the fifties.

"What can I get you dolls?" She asked snapping her gum as she spoke. Kat widened her eyes, she even sounded like she was from the fifties.

Leaning back into her seat Kat turned to Garland and smirked, "I'm sure he'll know what to order me." she said then crossed her legs under the table.

Garland seemed taken aback for a moment but quickly picked up the diner menu. His fair blue eyes scanned it fairly quickly and he first placed his own order but it took him a bit longer to place Kat's.

He scanned the menu four times before finally ordering something for her.

The waitress nodded as she wrote it all down. She snapped her gum again before notifying that she'd be 'back in a jiffy' with their orders.

Kat looked at Garland again. She seemed rather impressed.

"Chicken club sandwich... nice choice," Kat smiled as she leaned forward onto the table. She paced her elbows up on the tabletop and rested her chin on her overlapping hands.

"Thanks," Garland smiled back as he leaned forward as well. "Can never really go wrong with chicken can you?"

"Not unless you're a vegetarian."

"Touché..."

The two shared another smile before Kat began tracing patterns on the table with her finger.

"So Mr. I'm obscenely rich and good-looking, how's that mainstream life treating you?"

Garland shrugged, "It has it's ups and downs..."

Kat rolled her eyes, "Doesn't sound like that great of a life. Sure, money's all fine and dandy but what does it really buy you?"

He paused to think about it before resting his chin in his upturned palm. "Never really thought about it," he answered all the while shaking his head. "I've heard this from Hiro... you're group... not really a fan of us 'obscenely rich and good-looking' mainstream beybladers... not that I needed anyone to tell me that..."

"What's that suppose to mean?" she asked, looking up at him briefly before going back to drawing patterns.

Garland shrugged, "Nothing... Just can't fathom why you all don't like us,"

"You're obnoxious. You think the world revolves around you and you do whatever you want and get away with it because you're celebrities. A lot of you don't have any real skill, you're only famous because you're popular."

Kat's sudden and harsh explanation caught Garland off guard and he drew back looking slightly shocked. Kat looked at him and frowned a little. She felt back for suddenly unleashing all of that on him.

Kat's frown worsened. She hadn't directed all of that on him really, she was just speaking generally but the use of the nouns; you and you're could easily be interpreted that she meant him directly. She stared down at the table top now and mumbled a curse word.

So much for a second date she thought. Now she was wishing she actually kept her mouth shut for once... a first for her.

When Kat looked up she was greeted by Garland's handsome smile and she cocked a brow. Did he find her rant to be amusing? She furrowed her eyebrows together. He was holding back laughter... was he mocking her?

"What the hell is so funny!?" she snapped, suddenly offended.

Garland merely shook his head; "Okay, so you think mainstream beybladers are obnoxious idiots... but what do you think about me?" He asked giving her a tilted glance.

Kat paused as she accessed the look on his face. He was quite smooth, she had to admit that. She was actually expecting him to be a little awkward with her due to their second encounter at the Blade breakers party.

"Touché..." she smirked.

Garland continued to smile as he shrugged, "I'd still like for you to answer the question..."

"What I think about you?"

He nodded.

To this, Kat shrugged. "Hmm... you're not so bad I guess..."

"Wow, what a detailed assessment,"

She gave him a sarcastic look, "What can I say? I don't really know you."

"Is that an invitation for me to ask you out again?"

She shrugged but smiled, "Maybe..."

When their bubble gum snapping waitress arrived back she had their orders balanced on two plates. She placed the drinks down first; two colas, then put down Kat's order.

"Grilled Chicken club," she said before placing Garland's down soon after, "And a Mediterranean burger. Enjoy your meals, dolls." With that, she skated away.

"I like her. Tip her well." Kat commented as she reached for a few of the fries that came with her sandwich.

Garland cocked an eyebrow, "Why should I tip her?"

"You're paying aren't you?" she shot back. Kat dipped the fries in some ketchup then tore them in half with her teeth. She chewed and quickly swallowed for continuing; "You asked me out. I didn't ask you,"

"So that automatically means I have to pay?"

"Thems the breaks," she shrugged and Garland smiled. He was going to pay for the meal regardless, he just enjoyed their banters.

"You beyblade right?"

She nodded and continued eating.

"Want to battle sometime?" He asked as he looked down at his food. He wasn't sure where to start.

"Sure. Just so it doesn't ruin this perfectly fine relationship, I hope you're good with defeat."

Garland laughed, "You're rather sure of yourself..."

Kat shrugged as she picked up her sandwich, "Not to toot my own horn but..." she took a bite, "I'm pretty bad ass,"

He laughed again, "You also don't have any manners. Hasn't your mother ever told you not to talk with your mouth full?" Kat had caught that this was a joke but she froze.

She looked down at her sandwich and placed it down on her plate as she began to chew.

"Can't really remember the last time I talked to the woman..."

He gave her a questioning look but Kat ignored it. She already had said too much and she wasn't about to dish out any more personal details.

As the minutes turned into an hour, Garland and Kat opened up to each other. She asked about him and his family but he didn't ask about hers, which she appreciated. He asked her about beyblading and Kat answered most of his questions.

He would always have snarky little comments about a few of the things she said but that didn't bother her since she had some of her own. He made her smile but that didn't surprise her, what did was when he made her laugh.

It was a hearty laugh that made her sides hurt and Kat really couldn't remember the last time she had laughed that hard. It nearly brought tears to her eyes, how hard she was laughing. He complimented her and said he liked her laugh and Kat felt herself blush a little bit.

"Once again... you're smooth," She commented as she played with the mostly melted ice in her glass, they had finished their food awhile ago but neither felt like getting up and leaving at that exact moment.

Garland shrugged, "It's a gift really,"

She sent him a sarcastic glance, "One thing I said about mainstream bladers is very true for you... you think highly of yourself... but that doesn't seem like too much of a bad thing right now..."

They just smiled at one another and for a long while that was all they did. Smile. It wasn't until Kat felt her phone vibrate did she and Garland snap out of their trance. The female beyblader dug into her pocket and looked at her cellphone. She had a text message and quickly checked it but she didn't answer and shoved the phone back into her pocket.

"Something the matter?"

Kat paused as she looked down at the table then back at Garland. She smirked and shook her head, "No..." she answered and finally put her glass down, "What else do you have planned for the day?"

Garland shrugged, "Whatever you want..."

"Well you've been doing a fair job all the way till now... surprise me..."

* * *

><p>Just like he decided, Max had taken the time to go and visit his dad's shop. He told his teammates and their visitors that he was off to help his father and most acknowledged the information with a simple head nod but it was only Torah and Tiky who went with him.<p>

Max had half expected Kierra to tag along too but she got caught up in the food Ray had made and ignored them all completely. Torah and Tiky took a few snacks with them and were eating them as they all rode the bus.

Tiky was in the process of texting the other Sweet and Sour candies while Torah and Max conversed.

"I'm sorry about your dad's place," Torah said as she moved some of her light brown hair out of her face. Max smiled at her.

"It's not like it's your fault... thanks for coming with me though..."

Torah sent the blonde a toothy grin before giving him a cutesy shrug, "I don't mind..."

"Oh course not! It's a chance to meet you're in-laws," Tiky commented without looking up. Torah turned to her with wide eyes and kicked Tiky in the shin. The European mix whined and groaned but Torah turned back to Max with a smile.

"Oh don't listen to her. She's a dummy!..." She then glanced at Tiky from the corner of her eye, "A dummy that I sometimes just want to choke then walk away like nothing happened..." she mumbled the last part.

Max laughed, "Don't worry. My dad'll like you. I'm sure of it."

The rest of the bus ride was rather cheerful and filled with small talk. Tiky joined in a couple of times but most of them time she merely watched Torah and Max's interactions. She noticed absolutely everything as they spoke.

Every gesture, every touch, every laugh and every pause as they took time to just stare at one another. Tiky was sure they wanted to kiss once or twice but she figured they didn't because she was present.

There was really nothing she could do about that now but she enjoyed the fact that Torah and Max were getting along so well. She couldn't help be slightly jealous though. She wanted a boy to fawn over... where was Mystel when you needed him?

When they reached the stop they needed to be at, Max notified them it was time to get off and the hopped off the public transit and started walking down the street. On their way there they spotted a few kids beyblading in the street and smiled.

Torah wanted to turn to Max and say that they all probably got most of their beyblade parts from his dad's shop but she decided against it since it probably wasn't the right time. They turned down another street and the girls were about to ask how much further it was until they reach Mr. Mizuhara's shop but they didn't bother since they caught sight of it up ahead.

Mizuhara's hobby shop was a rather dead give away.

Max led the way and although the sign said closed, he walked right in with Torah and Tiky behind him.

Mr. Mizuhara was in the process of sweeping the floors when the three of them walked in.

"Hey dad!" Max greeted as he ran over to his father and hugged him.

"Hey Maxie!" Mr. Mizuhara greeted as he hugged his son and noogied the seventeen year old blonde. The two Mizuhara men laughed but as soon as Max's father caught sight of the girls he stopped and released his son. He smirked as he lightly nudged Max in the arm, "Friends of yours?"

"One a bit more than a friend, I think," Tiky remarked, causing Torah to nudge her.

"Talking... you need to stop it..." Torah mumbled as she and Tiky walked a bit closer to greet Mr. Mizuhara themselves.

The brunette parent looked from Tiky to Torah then at Max then back at the girls. Max hadn't said anything but the blush on his cheeks was enough to let his father know that Tiky's statement must've been true.

Not really wanting to play the guessing game, Mr. Mizuhara nudged Max again to get his attention, "So, which one's you're girlfriend, Max?"

The blue eyed blonde turned to look at his father with wide eyes, "Uh, well, um- I mean- the one with- um- she's not my girlfriend..."

Tiky kept smiling but Torah wasn't sure how to react.

"Come on, son." Mr. Mizuhara urged with a sly smile, "Don't be modest. They're both very pretty,"

"Heh, thank you!" Tiky beamed as she flipped her hair. Torah merely glanced at her with a cocked eyebrow and a 'WTF' expression.

"Quit acting like Kierra," Torah said as she poked her sidekick in the arm.

"So Maxie, which one is it?" Mr. Mizuhara asked again, nudging Max again.

The blonde smiled nervously as he began rubbing the back of his neck, "Dad..." he whined, not wanting to have this conversation right now.

Mr. Mizuhara sighed as he went back to sweeping, "Alright. Don't tell me." He smiled at his son, "I'll figure it out..."

The Mizuhara men smiled at one another before Max changed the subject and asked what his father wanted him and the girls to do. Mr. Mizuhara said that he didn't want any of them handling the broken glass in the back so he just told them to rearrange everything and put what was salvageable back in their proper place.

The three teenagers nodded then went to work.

As Tiky and Torah roamed around, picking things up and putting things on shelves, they began taking in everything in the Mizuhara hobby shop. Sure they sold beyblades and bey parts but there were also puzzles, games, little electronic toys, stuffed animals and a few collectors items.

"Wow... this place is cool." Torah said as she looked around.

"Yeah... Dad carries some pretty wicked stuff."

Torah jumped. She hadn't heard Max come up behind her. She nodded before looking around again. The burnt sienna skinned female slowly walked one of the isles and Max followed. They were incredibly silent but they could hear Tiky speaking with Max's father near the counter by the store front.

"Um... about what my Dad said... I... uh..." Max began but instantly lost his words. Torah turned to look back at him but she knew where this was going. She wondered why Max didn't tell his father that she was his girlfriend but she paused. It wasn't exactly official but she didn't think anyone would really question if they were an item or not since it already seemed to be implied.

Max continued to stumble over his words and Torah planned on letting him know that it was fine and that he didn't have to explain himself but in all honesty, she wanted to know if Max wanted to make their relationship official or not.

"I... you and me...uh... I don't know but-"

Before Max could say anything else Tiky came running down the isle.

"Mr. Mizuhara said that the radio wasn't stolen or broken and that we can listen to music. Pick a station!"

Max and Torah weren't sure how to react to Tiky's sudden outburst so they just told the brunette with blonde highlights to just pick whatever radio station she liked and they'd listen. Tiky nodded then skipped away to adjust the radio.

Tiky's random intrusion left Max and Torah in the isle a little dumbfounded and the situation soon grew awkward.

"Uh... yeah, about us, I-" Max was about to speak again but Mr. Mizuhara called out to him and asked if Max would lend him a hand. "Uh... sure Dad..." he said he quickly looked at Torah but walked away without a word.

For a long while neither Torah nor Max spoke to one another. When they caught eyes the two merely turned away and kept working. It wasn't until half an hour of continuous work did Mr. Mizuhara stop them and ask if they very hungry.

"Starving," Tiky sulked as she rubbed her stomach.

Max's father laughed as he dug through his pocket and handed some money to his son. "Go to Mrs. Saien's noodle hut - Max know's where it is - get you kids something to eat. Don't forget to bring you're old man back a some of her spicy noodles, okay Maxie?"

Max nodded with a smile, "Sure dad,"

"Oh the girls can go with you. You three deserve a lunch break,"

Max nodded as he looked at the two girls. Torah said nothing with Tiky smiled from ear to ear.

"Okay..." Max said before shoving the money into his pocket. "Be back soon..." He announced and led the way to the Saien noodle shop.

* * *

><p>J-Dymez sprang up as her cellphone went off. She answered the call she was getting and said a quick and slightly irritated, "Hello?"<p>

It was LaLa.

Hiro couldn't make out what J-Dymez or LaLa was talking about but at the time being he didn't really care. He was too caught up in J-Dymez to really care. He sat behind her, arms wrapped around her torso as he kissed the nape of her neck.

J-Dymez shivered and touched his leg with her free hand as she adjusted the phone in her grasp.

"LaLa, I'm kind of busy..." She breathed as Hiro kissed her neck again.

"Sorry! But I had to let you know! D.J. and his gang are calling you out and it's causing a big ruckus over here. Everyone thinks it's going to be the battle of the century!"

J-Dymez placed the phone to her other ear as Hiro came to kiss her jaw line. Her mind went blank for a moment just before she looked at Hiro and placed a hand on his forehead to force him away. He laughed and she smiled while she kept him at bay long enough to make some arrangements.

LaLa accepted J-Dymez offer to call her back later and the two hung up.

"What battle do you have to sneak off to this time?" Hiro asked as he intertwined his fingers with J-Dymez's.

She sighed. "Not now... have to call LaLa back to make arrangements. This damn group of boys are annoying the hell out of me and my team,"

Hiro shrugged, "Just show them whose boss,"

She laughed, "Please, we'll wipe the floor with 'em. They're really just wasting our time. I swear, men do the stupidest things to impress girls. The U.B.T. starts in two days, my girls need to train and they're just fuckin' around,"

Hiro frowned at the mention of the underground beyblade tournament but went back to smiling soon after.

"Well, you're quite the group to impress. Seven pretty women with 'mad skills', not that I'd know of course since you haven't invited me to any of your matches,"

J-Dymez chuckled as she turned to kiss the twenty-two year old coach, "I'll invite you when we have a battle important enough for you to come to!"

"I have no doubts about that but please explain to me how you really plan on doing all this without my team figuring it out? If you haven't noticed, Tyson and a few of the others are... very attached to you girls."

She shrugged as she stood up and walked over to Hiro's bedroom door. She looked over her shoulder at him, "I know..."

"You can just tell them... they won't judge any of you..."

J-Dymez shook her head, "We've been over this-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," He sighed as he got up onto his feet as well. "But did you ever stop to think that maybe my boys would want to help your girls?"

J-Dymez didn't speak right away. She had thought about it and it seemed perfectly logical, getting training from star athletes but she paused. Hiro should've known her better than that. Her pride wouldn't allow the Blade breakers to help them.

"It's a sweet gesture but..."

"But... you're not going to accept our help..."

"Exactly. We've gotten this far on my training, I don't want to think we'll make it any further because someone else took over... this isn't only about bettering my team, this is also about my skills as a coach. You better than anyone can understand that."

Hiro nodded. It was true, he did know what that felt like. Hiro never liked when he or anyone else questioned his coaching so he didn't want to jump in and do that to J-Dymez but that wasn't why he offered his help.

"We wouldn't be questioning you're coaching skills... we'd just want to help you advance. Just some friendly sparing..."

J-Dymez smiled as she walked over to Hiro and cupped his cheeks in her hands.

"Saturday..."

He furrowed his eyebrows together, "Saturday?"

She nodded, "Saturday is the first day of the U.B.T. We may not be battling that day but I just wanted to let you know that so you can be there every step of the way."

Hiro smiled back at her as he placed his own hands over hers. "Thanks for letting me know... and where is this so called U.B.T being held?"

J-Dymez dropped her hands from his face to rest them on his shoulder. "You know the old stadium down on Miyamoro park?"

Hiro cocked a brow, "Yeah... but that place is suppose to be torn down... actually it was suppose to be torn down over a year ago but the city never seems to get around to it..."

J-Dymez shrugged, "Whatever the reason, that's where its being held. Don't know why it should be torn down. It's just the outside that needs work, everything on the inside looks boss..."

It took a moment but Hiro figured that boss meant good. He lingered on the thought of the old stadium. He had heard many things about the stadium's expected demolition but for some reason that old building kept standing.

He became curious as to why that was but he didn't ask J-Dymez because she probably didn't know or even cared for that matter. She and her team had a place to beyblade, why was she going to ask questions and bite the hand that fed them?

Not dwelling on it too much Hiro kissed J-Dymez's forehead. "I'll be there, cheering you guys on... hope the girls don't mind..."

J-Dymez sighed, "I'm still tryna figure out how I'm gonna tell'em you're comin'."

Hiro shrugged. "You'll figure it out.

* * *

><p>There was a pile up of text messages and missed phone calls on Kat's phone but she put the cellular device on silent so it wouldn't pester her with its never ending vibration notifications. Shoving it back into her pocket, Kat continued to walk with Garland.<p>

They were shoulder to shoulder but that was about it. Kat didn't mind that they weren't talking since they were just enjoying each other's company but she seemed a bit displeased with the fact that Garland wasn't holding her hand or something like that.

After everything that had happened between them earlier that day she at least half expected him to make some moves on her. She was beginning to feel slightly uneasy and that bothered her severely.

Kat never let anything bother her and if something did she either dealt with it or brushed it off but she honestly couldn't think of how to make this situation better.

She didn't want to be the one to make the first move since that wasn't her style but she didn't want it to seem like she didn't like Garland because the truth was... she really did.

"Are you okay?" He suddenly asked, capturing her attention.

"What...?"

Garland cocked an eyebrow at her, "You look a little... lost..."

Kat shook her head and told him that she was fine and that she was just thinking but he kept that inquiring look on his face.

"You're not exactly the chatter box but... you've been eerily quiet for a while..."

Kat shook her head again, "I'm fine... just... thinking..."

He nodded, "Are you sure you're alright?" He paused and Kat could tell Garland was beginning to feel a bit uneasy himself and that made her, in turn, more unsettled. "Kat, is there somewhere you need to be?"

Kat didn't respond to the question immediately. Her teammates had been blowing up her phone with calls and messages but she knew they had no matches scheduled until tomorrow. She paused on that thought and made a face. She was really hoping they weren't calling because they had a match to go to.

"Kat?" Garland captured her attention again. "Are you feeling alright?"

She didn't respond she just kept thinking.

"Okay look, if you need or just want to leave I can handle that..."

She made another displeased face, why did he think she wanted to leave? Then again... she wasn't putting up much of an effort to let him know that she enjoyed his company.

"No. I don't... I don't want to leave I'm just thinking,"

"About...?"

"Stuff..."

"Thanks for narrowing it down. Appreciate the details,"

She gave him a sarcastic look and he shot one back at her.

"I've just a few things on my mind,"

"It's not other guys is it?"

She let out a dry laugh, "Why? You the jealous type?"

He let out a sound that was somewhere along the lines of a snort but he didn't say anything, which made Kat cock a brow at him.

"Wow... you like me that much?"

"Thought that would be obvious..."

Kat felt her chest tighten a bit as the BEGA beyblader said this. Her cheeks suddenly grew hot and now she had no idea as to what to do with herself. She started fiddling with her fingers and stared down at her all black leather boots.

She wanted to think of a quick response or snarky comment but nothing came to her mind. She saw him doing the same thing - fiddling with his hands and staring down at his feet - and Kat found herself smiling.

Without having to think anymore about it she reached over and grabbed one of his hands, making sure each of her fingers made their way into the spaces between his.

Garland looked at their hands but his light blue eyes quickly travelled up Kat's arm over her shoulder, up her neck and towards her face.

She gave him another one of her half smiles and he gave her one back.

The two kept walking and looking at one another and that uneasy feeling Kat had felt in the pit of her stomach went away.

"I hate you..." she said.

Garland seemed confused at first before he turned forward and began laughing. "What'd I do!?"

"You made me like you... you bastard..."

He laughed more, "I was getting a bit worried about that myself... You knew I liked you but I wasn't sure if you really liked me..."

"I do..."

"And that's why you hate me... makes perfect sense I think."

This time Kat laughed. As she gasped a bit for air a thought came to her mind. It seemed like something she'd regret later on but right now, she just didn't care.

"Hey Garland... do you... want to... I don't know... come to a bey battle of mine?"

He cocked an eyebrow, "Like a street battle?"

"Not exactly..."

Kat was going to invite Garland to her teams last battle before the U.B.T. She knew this probably wasn't going to sit well with the rest of her teammates but if Naomi could invite Ming-Ming who invited Daichi what was the harm in her inviting Garland just so long as he didn't tell anyone?


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

The walk to the Saien noodle shop was awkward and slightly unpleasant. The only one that was consistently talking was Tiky and most of her speech were lyrics. Neither Max nor Torah knew what it was but Tiky had gotten a Lady Gaga high and just randomly started belting out her lyrics.

Most of which Max didn't know but Torah just kept shaking her head as she and the blonde walked behind the energetic Euro mixed girl.

Tiky stopped some feet ahead of them to strike a pose and belt out another set of lyrics when Torah glanced at Max from the corner of her eye.

She was feeling so uneasy right now since her mind thought of nothing but their half finished conversation back Mr. Mizuhara's hobby shop. The blue eyed West Indian began to worry a little bit. Did Max consider them to be a couple? Was he just looking for a good time but no actual commitment?

She bit her lip a little as her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes narrowed. She wasn't doing this at anyone in particular, it just happened when she was thinking. Torah had a bad habit of making faces when she was lost in her mind.

Torah almost didn't notice when Max turned to corner so she had to hot step to catch up and before they knew it they were at the Noodle Stop.

The counter had a couple of people sitting there having in depth conversations with each other as well as a brunette woman with glasses. The resemblance was uncanny and both Torah and Tiky could tell that the woman was Kenny's mother, Mrs. Saien.

"Order up! Kenny love, bring this to the fine gentlemen over there." Mrs. Saien pointed to the man at the far left and Kenny nodded as he handed the warm lunchbox of goods to the man in the business suit.

"Here you are Mr. Ginka," Kenny said quickly before accepting the money from the man known as Mr. Ginka.

"Thank you Kenny! I just love you're mother's noodles... by the way son... what happened?" Mr. Ginka motioned towards his own face as he looked at the sheepish boy behind the counter.

As Max, Torah and Tiky their stomach couldn't help but turn a little at the sight of Kenny. He was badly bruised and hand bandages all over his face. He looked terrible and judging from the expression on his face they could tell he felt terrible.

Kenny didn't answer Mr. Ginka's question before Mrs. Saien came back to the counter waving her wooden spoon around. "He got into a fight with one of his friends! He won't tell me anything else!" she exclaimed.

Mr. Ginka sharply sucked air through his teeth, "Ouch. I'd hate to see the other kid," he joked, "In any case, I'll see you all around."

Everyone at the Saien Noodle hut waved goodbye as Mr. Ginka ran off. The people remaining looked at Kenny then began assaulting him with questions.

Kenny began to fidget. He didn't want to talk about it so he just ignored everyone and waited for his mother to finish with the orders so he could hand them to everyone so that they could leave. When Mrs. Saien yelled; "Order up!" Kenny quickly got the food ready and handed them out to everyone and topped it all off with a; "Have a nice day."

They all seemed reluctant to leave at first but noticing that Kenny wasn't about to tell them anything they said goodbye to the badly bruised beyblade engineer and his mother then left one by one.

When the last person got up and left, thats when Max, Tiky and Torah sat down.

"Mrs. Saien's Noodle Stop, what can we..." Kenny's voice trailed off as he caught sight of who was sitting at the counter.

Max and the girls waved with warm half smiles.

"Hey Kenny..." they all greeted in unison.

"H-Hey..." he said quickly before turning away.

"How you feeling? We heard about what happened last night..." Tiky said as she leaned forward on the counter.

"Did you?" Kenny shot back. His tone was one of someone filled with annoyance and everyone caught that but they remained friendly.

"It doesn't hurt does it?" Torah asked. She looked past Kenny towards Mrs. Saien who didn't say a word but Torah could tell she was listening.

"No." He answered then said nothing more than that.

"Have you talked to anyone at the do-" Max was about to ask Kenny another question but the brunette cut him off.

"No... excuse me... I have to go cut some carrots..." With that, Kenny slipped around the wooden wall to where he couldn't be seen.

Mrs. Saien sighed as she went to the counter to take the trio's orders. She greeted Max first since he was a familiar face but Mr. Saien smiled at the girls and asked them what they wanted just before stating that she already knew what Max was going to order.

Torah smiled and Tiky laughed before checking the menu out behind Mrs. Saien. Tiky ordered the shrimp teriyaki with spicy noodles while Torah ordered a yakibute ramen bowl. Mrs. Saien nodded with a smile and said she'd be back with their orders very soon.

"Poor Kenny..." Torah sighed as she looked at Tiky. The Euro mix nodded as a sad expression etched across her face.

"Bet he's heart broken... He really liked your cousin..."

Torah nodded as she turned back to stare forward. "Yeah... but I guess that's what happens when you wait to long to tell someone how you feel... you get your heart broken... I'm not saying Kenny deserved any of this. He's so sweet but... Ming-Ming's never been the type to wait. She gets what she wants when she wants it."

Tiky nodded at Torah's wise words and Max stared down at the counter. Torah had been right about waiting around in telling someone how you really felt...

"He was waiting for the right time to tell her..." Max said in Kenny's defence, causing both Tiky and Torah to look at him.

"I guess..." Torah said, returning to look in front of her.

Tiky was about to chirp in when her cell phone suddenly went off. The busty girl went digging into her cleavage and pulled out her cellphone. She answered the call and smiled as she said hello to whomever was on the line.

"Hold on guys I'm gonna take this. Talk amongst yourselves!" she beamed as she got up and walked some feet away from the Saien's Noodle shop.

Max and Torah exchanged glances before awkwardly turning away. Max began rubbing the back of his neck while Torah started fiddling with her hair. At the same time, Max and Torah turned back to look at one another but only Torah turned away, not sure as what to say.

Max shook his head and sighed, "What am I doing..." He asked himself aloud before reaching over to take Torah's hand. As soon as his skin came in contact with hers Torah jumped and looked at Max with inquiry written all over her face.

"Torah... I didn't mean to be all awkward at my Dad's place and what my Dad said... the only reason I didn't say you were my girlfriend was because... I'm not sure if you are..."

Torah looked a Max as if he was speaking a language she didn't understand. "I thought..." her voice trailed off.

"You thought...?" Max paused and waited for her to continue but he didn't have to. He continued to be silent, thinking maybe Torah had something else to say but noticing that she didn't Max inched closer and looked over at Tiky to see if she was listening to them.

Noticing that Tiky was too engrossed with the person on the other line Max turned back to look Torah straight in the eyes.

"Does this mean you... want to... you know... be my girlfriend?"

Torah shrugged, "I dunno... do you... want to be my boyfriend?"

"I..." They both began to speak at the same time and laughed. "No. You first," they laughed because they did it again.

"No no, you first. it's your turn to talk..." Torah said.

"I... don't want to say anything and embarrass myself..."

Torah cocked a brow at him, "Um... Well... I... I like you Max and I would like to..."

"Be my girlfriend?"

Torah looked at him sheepishly but nodded and Max exhaled with relief.

"Good. Okay so... you're my girlfriend and..."

"You're my boyfriend..."

"Do we... shake or hug or... kiss on this or something?"

Torah began smiling ear to ear as she went digging through her pocket and pulled out a tube of lip gloss. "Boy, all you had to do was ask!" she remarked as she undid the top and began applying it. She smacked her lips together before putting the lip gloss away and turning to Max. "Okay I'm ready... just had to get them all luscious and kissable."

Max couldn't help but burst out laughing as she slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips to his now-official girlfriend.  
>It took some time before the two pulled apart they came away smiling.<p>

"Order's up!" Mrs. Saien said capturing the seventeen and sixteen year olds' attention. It was Kenny who came out with the orders. He quickly handed a bag to Max but said nothing as he tried hurrying back behind the wall.

"Kenny... Stop by the dojo soon. Daichi and you are friends... you shouldn't stop being friends over a girl..."

Torah nodded in agreement to Max, "Even though Ming-Ming is my cousin and I love her... you shouldn't feel too bad. You'll find someone..."

Kenny stood there with his back towards them and that's when Tiky came back to the group. She clapped her hands together at the sight of the food being ready but she wore a more humble expression as she turned and looked at Kenny.

"Hey Kenny... See you around?" Tiky asked.

"...Maybe..." With that he left to help his mother.

* * *

><p>Back at the dojo Kai didn't seem to know what to do with himself. He was all over his room fiddling and rearranging stuff and he had no idea why. He wasn't exactly cleaning but he assumed he was just doing all this to pass the time.<p>

Stopping to stand by his bed, Kai ran his palm down his face as he looked towards the desk at the other end of the room. Up until now, Kai had pretty much used it as a coat and clothes rack when he was too lazy to hang or put any of this stuff away but he assumed that today was going to be the first day that he ever used it for what it actually was.

Kai was planning on taking Ray's advice in possibly writing Hilary a note. It was old fashioned but it was his only option. The half Russian blader walked over to the desk and went digging through the drawers. He found a pen and a few sheets of paper and placed them on the desk.

Kai pulled the chair out and sat down. He stared at the pen and paper not sure what to write. He didn't want to admit everything through writing since he didn't know how to word how he felt but he didn't want to keep it too vague just in case it gave off the feeling that he didn't care.

He ran his fingers through his hair. Not once had Kai ever thought he'd be in this situation. He found it slightly disturbing and the weird feeling in his stomach was uncomfortable yet he seemed to take a liking to it.

It all really didn't make any sense but he assumed it all had to do with his new random onslaught of feelings. Shivering at his own mental mention of feelings Kai stared down at the paper again.

Better get this over with...

He picked the pen and began playing around with it as he thought of what to write.

Dear Hilary... No... He paused in thought. Seemed to formal and way too old fashioned.

Hilary... Better. Just using her name kept things casual but he got stuck again. What was the body of his letter going to say?

"Aw shit..." he grumbled and ran his hand down his face again. This was all so much harder than he thought it would be.

Kai thought and thought and thought some more but he felt like his brain was about to explode. Getting fed up with the whole thing Kai grunted and grumbled as he brought both hands up to his head and face planted down onto his desk.

He groaned and grunted and Ray walked in just as Kai uttered a loud curse word.

"Are you dying?" Ray asked as he cocked a brow.

Kai looked over his shoulder at Ray and murmured something incoherent. Ray cocked his eyebrow again but smiled.

"Having trouble writing?"

A sarcastic glance.

"Well, what do you want to say?"

Kai shrugged.

"Okay... how do you feel?"

"Sick..."

"...Yeah, I don't think saying 'I'm sick with affection' is very romantic..."

"This is hard enough as it is, Kon. I need want help not to be mocked."

Ray nodded, "I understand but its all about what you want to say. Its all about how you feel,"

"I have nothing to say and I feel sick. We covered that... I thought cats had exceptional hearing,"

"Hey, I'm trying to help. No need to bite the hand that feeds you."

Ray had a point but Kai really didn't know what to do. He turned his chair around half way so that one arm was resting on the desk. He tapped the pen against the wood and tried to think some more. Kai thought and thought about it but it just made him angry all over again.

The rhythm in Kai's pen tapping had changed and Ray could tell how irritated his friend was getting. Thinking that Kai would break a hole through the desk, Ray decided to throw something out there.

"What do you like about Hilary?" He asked this as a genuine question instead of an idea. Maybe if he got Kai talking about it, it would make this whole process less unbearable.

At first Kai shrugged as he continued tapping the pen against the desk. "She's nice... really sweet, I guess..."

"Go on..."

"She's knows what I like and I like that about her... She knows when to not bug me or knows what I want to eat..."

"...Go on..."

"She's pretty..."

"How pretty?"

"I don't fucking know!" Kai snapped throwing his hands up, "Really pretty!?" He shrugged as if he were unsure or didn't know how to answer.

Ray tried not to chuckle; "What do you find pretty about Hilary?"

Kai shrugged again but this time he really thought about it. There were a few things he's noticed about Hilary and he accessed what he found attractive about her but now was his time to list them all aloud.

"She's just... really good looking. I don't know. her eyes... are big and brown... kind of chocolate coloured like her hair... She's just pretty..."

"What else?"

"...She has a really nice body..."

Ray had to choke bad the laughter as he shook his head and walked over to Kai's bed to sit down. "Okay, but I don't think that's something you want to say in you're letter."

"I don't really want to say all that in my letter... the eyes and hair thing I mean... I kind of rather say it in person,"

Ray paused for a moment but smiled as he crossed a revelation, "You made this so much easier on yourself. Just tell her you want to meet her somewhere... and you call us idiots..."

"I heard that last part.

"Oh come on, I'm entitled to at least ONE crack for that cat hearing bit!"

Kai half smirked as he looked in Ray's direction. "I hate how much you're enjoying this,"

The cat-like Chinese blader merely shrugged as he got back up onto his feet. Ray walked over to Kai and they pounded their fist together.

"A relationship is good for you and I don't think there's anyone better than Hilary for you..." Ray began heading out of Kai's room but the half Russian called Ray back into his room and asked where the hell he was going and that he needed to stay and help him with all this.

Ray laughed and told Kai, he'd do fine on his own and that he had to go and model. That's when Kai just paused and stared at Ray as if he had three heads. Taking notice of Kai's look, Ray quickly explained how he encountered Naomi's artistic talents and that he had asked her to draw him a portrait of himself.

Kai made another face but this time it was one of curiosity.

"She any good?"

Ray nodded, "Very good. I almost can't believe it. She let me look through one of her sketch books and I was amazed. She's got some skills."

Kai nodded as he acknowledged all this but he froze slightly as an idea hit him. Ray did suggest for one of the girls to go over and give Hilary the note, who better than to send Naomi?

The slate haired male turned to his raven haired friend and made the suggestion that Naomi would be a great candidate since she probably was less likely to look at the note or ask any questions. He ended his whole speech with 'She's not as nosey but... you have to ask her.'

Ray looked at Kai with confusion. Why'd he have to ask?  
>"I think she's scared of me..."<p>

"You scare a lot of people..."

Kai let that comment slide but continued on; "It's better if you ask anyway. She's more likely to do it if you ask."

Ray cocked an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Another sarcastic look but Kai didn't elaborate. He just got up onto his feet and began shoving Ray out the door.

"Just ask her!" With that, Kai shut the door as soon as he forced Ray into the hallway.

* * *

><p>The Sweet and Sour Candies were sitting in their living room in silence as they waited for J-Dymez to come and tell them what she described as 'important information'. Although they're days had gone exceptionally well - all for different reasons - the room seemed tense and everyone's spirits seemed rather down or upset in some way.<p>

Toni sat near Kat, wearing a look of slight confusion and frustration. The Guyanese girl had many things on her mind and she wasn't sure how to organize them all.

Her day had been filled with many exchanges of information as well as a few laughs. it had held moments of slight rage and secret moments of passion. Nothing too passionate really but that was no one's business in Toni's opinion.

She had had a really good day and now had many things to think about but right now, she was just waiting for J-Dymez to come into the room and tell them all of her important news.

Kat wore a look of vexation. She had her day on her mind and she wanted all the fun she had to extend into the evening but since J-Dymez had called this team meeting she had to cut her date with Garland shorter than she hoped, which was what really made her angry.

But on the other hand, Kat couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty about what she had said to the silver haired athlete. She had broken their pact on not speaking of what they did as underground beybladers to members outside of their team and although Kat trusted Garland very much, she couldn't help feeling that maybe she had done wrong.

Tiky didn't particularly have anything too serious on her mind. She was just upset because everyone else around her was.

Torah had found her day to be great right after she and Max had made their relationship official but just like Tiky, her spirits had dampened due to the looming dull feeling in the room.

Kierra was wearing a look of worry that she tried masking with blankness but she had done a poor job at it. No one was sure as to why the pretty blade engineer was worried nor did anyone ask because they assumed it be over something foolish but some couldn't help but grow curious as to what was on her rather limited mind.

Naomi also wore a look of worry and she tried not to make eye contact with anyone in the room. She sat fairly close to her sister, Tiky and Kierra but she kept her lavender eyes looking out the window towards the Blade breakers dojo.

She had started working on Ray's portrait when they were outside but he had come out of no where and requested more of her. She had no idea what to do as he asked her to deliver something to Hilary sometime this weekend.

Naomi wanted to say that she was uncomfortable with doing what he asked since she felt it really wasn't any of her business but she couldn't bring herself to because when he looked at her with his golden eyes, there was no way she could tell him no.

Worried about her role as messenger and what this team meeting was about, Naomi's eyebrows knitted together.

It wasn't long before J-Dymez finally entered the room and all the girls turned to her with questioning eyes. Some faces looked more irritated than others but of course the S.A.S.C. coach ignored them.

"We're being called out," J-Dymez remarked, folding her arms.

Toni sneered, "By who?"

"D.J. and his idiots,"

The girls exchanged glances but Toni was the only one to let out an acidic laugh. She forced her five foot three frame from her seat and walked over to J-Dymez with a look at said; 'You've got to be kidding.'

"Seriously?" Toni snorted then chuckled, "They barely blade, how the hell are they calling us out!?"

J-Dymez shrugged, "I don't know what those idiots are up to but they're calling us out and are putting high quality parts on the table..." The maroon eyed Jamaican female went into some details about the battle bet D.J. and his group had placed and told her team about the prices winning held.

Kierra and Torah's eyes lit up at the mention of new parts but only Kierra's stayed lit as Torah's stomach turned. She was sure that the parts were stolen and that couldn't help but make her think of Mr. Mizuhara's hobby shop.

At all this information J-Dymez was giving them, Toni laughed once more.

"Are you kidding me? What the hell are they thinking?"

Once again J-Dymez shrugged, "Whatever it is going on through their brains it doesn't matter. We have reputations to uphold and I'll be damned before those bottom feeders tarnish that..."

Kat furrowed her eyebrows, "You called us all here because D.J. and his dumb asses what to battle us?! What the hell!?"

"They want to battle us tonight..."

"And!?"

"And... apparently since their are such high quality parts at stake were battling them but apparently this battles a really big deal."

"Why?" Torah asked, "They're not that good..."

Once again J-Dymez shrugged, "LaLa couldn't tell me everything but we're heading out tonight..."

The girls said nothing but acknowledge the information.

"When?" Kat finally asked.

"The battle's for nine."

The girls exchanged glances once more but didn't speak.  
>"Also... There's something I want to tell you girls..."<p>

They all waited in silence for J-Dymez to continue. She paused for a moment, trying to think of the best words to use but when the doorbell rang she froze for a second. In a moment or two, she yelled that the door was open and the girls heard footsteps coming towards the living room.

They all turned to see who would be appearing in the doorway and they all seemed confused when they saw Hiro.

He greeted the girls and they greeted him back, still rather confused but J-Dymez sent him a half smile as he walked into the room.

"Did you tell them?"

"I was about to, thanks," she remarked as Hiro came up to stand at her side, "Unless you want to do the honours that is..."

Hiro shrugged then smiled. They didn't speak but he and J-Dymez held a silent conversation before the two coaches turned to face the group of females.

"Well ladies..." Hiro began, "You may have plenty of fans cheering for you tonight but your going to have one more."

At first the girls had no idea what Hiro was talking about but when it clicked Toni and Kat's faces contorted into stunned looks.

"Bitch, don't you DARE tell me what I'm thinkin' is true!" Toni snapped as she looked at J-Dymez.

The light skinned coach wore a hard expression as Toni came trotting a heated path towards her.

"You were the last person I thought would break the pact! What hell is going on!"

J-Dymez was about to speak but Hiro placed a hand on her shoulder to notify him that he would speak on her behalf.

"Toni, it's complicated but don't take this as a sign of betrayal. As a matter of fact, you should be gad I'm the only one that knows about you're battle tonight and the whole 'underground tournament' thing. If any of the other beybladers knew they'd be over here right now,"

Toni paused as she looked Hiro up and down before turning back to look at J-Dymez.

"Okay... just because your dating him doesn't mean you shoulda told him Janielle! It's bad enough Daichi knows! How long before the rest of them know and we get arrest for illegal activity!?"

Hiro made a face as he turned to J-Dymez as well, "Daichi knows?"

"Long story." The Jamaican coach with pale bronze skin stated. She didn't even look up at Hiro as she spoke since she was keeping eyes on Toni, who was glaring back at her. "Do not question my judgement. He knows and he's coming."

"Un-fucking-believable," Toni growled as she threw her hands up, "Okay, so you can tell Hiro everything and still think you're setting an example. You were mad when you found out Naomi told Ming-Ming who in turn told Daichi. How'd you feel if one of us went behind your back and told!?"

That's when Kat's entire body ran cold. She heard as Toni went on with her rant but the words soon began nothing but jumbled nonsense as her gut told her she was in trouble.

Kat turned away, trying to look else where but when Toni had called her name, she was forced to look back at her coach and her teammates.

"Kat! Can you please tell J-Dymez that she's being a dumb ass! I swear to my Lord dat a pure lagga head bud a live inna dis here rattid 'ouse!"

Toni was speaking in patois... not a good sign.

Kat looked around at everyone and they all stared back, waiting for her to speak. The room suddenly felt smaller and Kat's breathing had quickened with her heart rate.

She paused to calm herself and catch her breath. She had done the same thing J-Dymez had and now probably was the best time to admit that since she didn't think her team would appreciate the surprise of seeing Garland sometime on Saturday or Sunday night.

"I... have a confession..." Kat said. Everyone had already been looking at her but this got Toni to stop speaking in her native tongue. "Don't tear J-Dymez a new one for this. Hiro's cool and... I... messed up... I went on a date with Garland today-"

"NO WAY!" Torah, Kierra and Tiky all said in unison and this made Kat look at them strangely.

"That's not the confession you morons! I went out with Garland and... invited him to see us blade..."

The room went completely silent for a really long while before Toni suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs and threw her arms up in the air.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? ARE YOU ROTTENCLOT KIDDING ME?! A what sort of fuckery is dis dat I'm hearin' inna my ear!?"

Kat had expected an outburst like that from Toni, but she seemed shocked no one else had anything to say. She understood why J-Dymez wasn't saying anything but she was expecting her teammates to say... something.

Toni went around the room, throwing a miniature tantrum but Kat ignored her since she knew Toni needed to cool down before she spoke to her again.

Kat's stone blue eyes met with J-Dymez's maroon coloured once and the Sweet and Sour Candies's coach sighed.

"Can't take back what you've told him so... there ain't nothin' we can do now..."

Toni stopped to look at J-Dymez, "Ya gone mad gyal?"

Hiro couldn't help but wear a continuous expression of confusion. He had been able to make out most of what Toni was cursing about but lagga head bud, and the phrase 'ya gone mad' had him at a loss.

J-Dymez looked up at Hiro just before looking back at Toni to respond, "No. I haven't gone insane," those weren't the exact words she would've used but from the look on Hiro's face, she could tell he needed a little bit of help in understanding what the S.A.S.C captain was talking about.

"Really? Looks like it..." Toni said, reverting back to the english Hiro could understand.

"Toni... we can't deal with this right now. We have to get ready. We'll talk about it later..."

Toni sneered. "Fine..." with that, she left the room.

The other girls soon followed but Kat lingered back as she looked at J-Dymez, not sure as of what to do. J-Dymez shook her head and motioned for Kat to leave and get ready.  
>"Don't worry about her. She'll cool off when she focuses on the battle..."<p>

Without another word, Kat turned away and walked out. As he listened to the girls all make their way to their rooms, Hiro turned to J-Dymez who was now rubbing her temples from all the stress that had just suddenly hit her.

The blue haired twenty-two year old sighed as he placed his arm around J-Dymez's shoulder and kissed her forehead.

"Don't worry about it... Toni'll cool off like you said."

She let out a dry laugh, "Not Toni I'm worried about. The fact that the others didn't say anything worries me... I have no idea what's going on in their heads."

Hiro shook his head and kissed J-Dymez temple, "Don't worry about that right now. You have a match to prepare for..."

She sighed as she looked up and half smiled at him.

"I'm glad you're coming you know... I use to feel the same way Toni felt but... I don't know what the hell you did but I trust you and I want you there tonight,"

He smiled down at her, "Well whether the girls like it or not, I'm going to be there. Let's just hope Toni doesn't come down with a machete and go all Lizzy Borden."

She didn't want to but J-Dymez laughed. She turned to Hiro and cupped his face before giving him a cool stare.

"I don't know what you did..." she repeated, "But I'm glad you're gonna be there tonight."

She had to stand on her toes a little bit but J-Dymez went on to give him a kiss.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Max was getting ready for bed when Torah's light flicking on and caught his eye. He smiled as he saw the burnt sienna skilled female walk into her room but the smile was soon washed away as soon as he saw the look on her face.

Torah's beautiful blue eyes seemed distraught and full of questioning. She looked on edge and very uneasy and that - in turn - made Max uneasy. His stomach flipped a little bit as someone came into Torah's room and talked with her briefly before leaving.

She nodded then prepared to undress. Instead of turning away, Max actually tried to get Torah's attention before she pulled her shirt up over her head.

She didn't see him but he definitely saw her. She pulled the bright green and black shirt up and over her head then tossed it aside, leaving his newly proclaimed girlfriend in nothing but her jeans and bra. Max blushed slightly and as perverted as it seemed he really couldn't look away but luckily Max managed to finally tear his eyes off her as he reached for his cellphone to quickly text her.

It didn't take long before Torah got the text she looked at her phone and instantly looked up through the window afterwards. Max gave her a sheepish look before Torah yelped and quickly picked her shirt up again.

Max laughed and opened his window, causing Torah to do the same.

"Sorry," Max apologized.

"Umhmm," Torah snorted jokingly as she held up her shirt to cover herself, "Admit it, you just wanna see all of this," she gestured down towards herself and again Max laughed before shrugging.

"I wouldn't mind if you showed me,"

"Boy, don't be a sicko," she joked. The seventeen year old blonde boy and the sixteen year old Jamaican and Bajan girl shared a short laugh before Torah went back to looking down at her phone again. The smile was wiped off her face and her laughter was soon replaced with a groan, "I gotta go baby..."

Max quirked a blonde eyebrow, "Where are you going?"

"...Out."

He frowned. Max was never one to push or get mad for answers like that but his nerves were suddenly irked.

"I thought we said we wouldn't keep secrets from each other now that we're... you know; dating..."

Torah paused as she looked at Max then turned away, "I got to go... I'll talk to you about it later."

Before Max could protest or even say anything at all, Torah shut the window and closed the blinds, leaving Max with a pile of unanswered questions. His nerves seemed to be even more irked as he quickly pulled back and did the same with closing his window.

The freckled face young man walked around his bed and over to his dresser to quickly retrieve whatever he could find. His orange sweats and his famous green and yellow T-shirt.

Max quickly threw them on before heading down the hall and storming into Tyson and Daichi's room.

Both beybladers were sprawled out over their sheets fast asleep but Max went over to Tyson and gently shook the navy haired male awake. It took a few good shakes before actually getting Tyson up from his slumber.

"Huh- Huh- What?!" Tyson sat up as he looked around, he looked as if he had half expected to see some two headed beast but he relaxed as he realized it was only Max. "Dude... what's your damage?"

"The girls. They're heading out to that run down stadium again."

Tyson furrowed his eyebrows. It took him a moment to grasp what Max was talking about at first but he soon began rubbing his eyes and got up on his feet. He blindly searched around for clothes and upon finding them he turned to Max.

"How do you know?" Tyson yawned before tossing his clothes on.

Max shrugged. He hadn't gotten verbal confirmation but he had a gut feeling that the abandon stadium was where the girls were headed.

The blue eyed male felt like it took Tyson's a suspiciously long time to get dressed before the went out into the hallway to retrieve Hiro's car keys. After a couple of deep breaths Max began to relax again. Now he understood why Tyson always seemed so tense and uptight when it came to Toni not talking to him. He was feeling the same way when Torah refused to answer his questions.

Tyson quickly grabbed Hiro's keys from the hook in the kitchen but just as the two headed for the garage door the hallway light flicked on without warning.

"Tyson?! Max?!"

The two friends froze as they heard their names being called but as they turn they realized who it was and soon began to chuckle as they saw him. It was Ray and he looked about ready to attack them... with a sandwich as a weapon.

Tyson and Max snorted as they tried forcing back laughter.

"Dude, seriously!?" Tyson said as he cocked an eyebrow at Ray.

"What!?" The golden eyed male snapped, "I thought you two were burglars or something!"

"So you were going to beat us with a sandwich?"

Ray paused as he looked at the midnight snack he had in hand, "No." He admitted, "I was actually going to make you think I was going to throw the sandwich and actually kick you in the face... I wasn't about to waste a perfectly good sandwich!"

He was serious... which made Tyson and Max burst out laughing.

"Dude... It's a sandwich!" Max said but couldn't help guffawing afterwards.

"Yeah, but I'm hungry..." Ray remarked before finally bringing the sandwich down to his lips then taking a bite, "Where are you two going?" He quirked a suspicious eyebrow and Max and Tyson looked at one another.  
>"...No where..." Tyson lied and Ray merely sent them both a sarcastic look.<p>

He swallowed before speaking again; "Okay." He snorted mockingly, "Just tell me what the hell you guys are up too, or I'll really whoop your asses."

Tyson and Max exchanged a quick glance before finally giving in. Their shoulders slopped as they admitted to the eighteen year old that they were going out to follow the neighbours.

Ray rolled his eyes; "Again!? Guys... I think obsessive stalking can cause you to go to jail."

Tyson was about to snap and tell Ray that it wasn't any of his concern but Max intervened and asked the Chinese beyblader if he wanted to come with them. Tyson sent Max a look, asking the blonde if he was a few bey parts short of a beyblade but Max merely shrugged and replied that it was better than either going to jail or having Ray kick their ass kung-fu style.

"Max has a point," Ray smirked as he folded his arms and shrugged. With a sigh he agreed and notified them that he was only tagging along so that he could keep an eye on them.

"Well hurry up and put some clothes on, chaperone! I'm not going anywhere with you wearing just a wife beater and a pair of silky ass pyjama pants,"

Ray quickly looked down at himself then looked back up at Tyson, "Stop hatin'."

* * *

><p>As soon as Ray got dressed the three males crept out of the house and quietly made their way into the garage. They did their best in trying not to wake anyone else but they tripped over a few things in the hushed rush to get the garage door open.<p>

They had to open it manually since doing it automatically would be too noisy. Tyson opened the car doors just as Ray and Max lifted the garage door open and peaked out.

The girl's had just finished piling into a cab van and were in the process of closing the door. Max bolted for Hiro's Mitsubishi gallant, dragging Ray along with him and the two got into the car and buckled up.

"They just got into the cab." Max notified as he looked at Tyson.

The blue haired boy nodded as he looked in his rear view mirror. They were probably going to go the same route they had done the last time they had followed them so slowly, Tyson began pulling the car out of the driveway.

He heard as the Taxi began pulling off so he sped up in making tracks to follow the group. Out of the driveway and onto the street that led them to the main road, Tyson waited to see a cab van pass by and once he did he prepared to follow them in the same manner he had done not too long ago.

"Wow... professional stalkers." Ray comment from the backseat as he leaned into the seat fabric and took another bite of his sandwich. Since he had been rushed to get his clothes on and get out of the house, he didn't exactly have the time to finish it, until now.

"No comments from the peanut gallery!" Tyson warned as he looked at Ray in the rearview mirror. The Chinese blader merely shrugged as a small smirk came across his handsome face.

Just like Tyson had predicted, the route was the same as before and only Ray seemed surprised about the location. Tyson quickly found a place to park before they all got out and looked around to see where the cab had gone.

They didn't see it but they did find the entrance.

"Wasn't this stadium supposed to be torn down? I mean... we have the new one on the other side of town, why is this place still running?" Ray asked, as he looked around the crowd. There was a wide variety of people and quite a few of them were wearing T-shirts with the initials; S.a.S.C and a pile of candy on them.

Tyson and Max both shrugged at Ray's question.

"Guess we'll find out when we get in there," Tyson commented as he led the way to the line but he cut in front of everyone. There were some obvious complaints but Tyson ignored them. Max and Ray looked at one another then at Tyson.

"Maybe we should wait in line." Max suggested.

Tyson looked over his shoulder at him, "Pft. What happened to Mr. Rush? I thought you wanted to know what was going on with your girlfriend."

Max furrowed his eyebrows, "Yeah... but I want to live long enough to see it. Some of these people look like they're going to gut us!"

Tyson snorted and was about to tell Max and Ray not to worry their pretty little heads when he suddenly bumped into something hard.

"Holy shit! Why didn't you tell me about this wall- Oh God..." Tyson's voice trailed off as he looked up at what he had bumped into. It wasn't a wall that much was certain.

A tan skinned bouncer, about as big as a fair sized SUV stood there with his arms folded, looking down at Tyson, Max and Ray as if he were about to pick the three up and eat them. Max stayed completely still, Tyson had gone eerily silent and Ray merely eyed the bouncer.

Ray was already fairly tall. Standing at five foot nine but this bouncer was huge! Probably six foot three or even six foot four.

"Back of the line." The bouncer stated. His voice was husky and threatening. Although he had quite the gut that didn't take away from the muscles he had flexed in his folded arms as warning.

The three Blade breakers at first didn't seem to know what to do but as Tyson regained his senses the navy haired male just began to chuckle as he patted the bouncer on the shoulder. Feeling just how hard his muscles were brought Tyson's small chuckling to a short halt.

"Oh shit... made of steel," He remarked before nervously looking up at the bouncer, "Look, I don't think you know who you're talking to but-"

The bouncer snorted, "I don't care. Back of the line."

There was a moment of pause before Tyson chuckled again then shook his head, "No dude, seriously. Do you know who we are?"

The bouncer gave Tyson a real mean look before stating once again that he didn't care and wanted the three of them to go to the back of the line. There was another bouncer on the other side of the line, dealing with people coming in and paying.

He looked over at the bouncer Tyson was talking to and silently asked if there was a problem. The huge man the Blade breakers were dealing with shook his head and said that he was handling it.

"I said," He began before getting up into Tyson's face, "Get to the back of the line, before I eat a motherfucker's food up in here."

Max quickly tapped Tyson on the shoulder, "I don't think he's kidding man... He really does look like he's going to eat us..."

The bouncer sent the trio a look before smirking and nodded, "Listen to your blonde friend buddy. All I see is some Chinese dumplings, an American Cheeseburger and some Miso Pork Ramen and I'm gettin' kinda hungry."

The three Blade breakers stepped back, not sure if the bouncer was serious or not, but they wanted to keep a fair distance between them just in case. This caused the bouncer to chuckle and with a deep, commanding voice, he pointed over his shoulder and said; "Back of the line."

Frustrated with the situation, Tyson decided to take a chance at step in the bouncer's face, "You're going to let us in whether you like it or not!"

The bouncer snorted again.

"What you gonna do? Wit your Tyson Kinomiya lookin' ass."

At this Tyson paused but furrowed his eyebrows, "I AM Tyson Kinomiya! Dude, I've been trying to say that this whole time!"

Again, the bouncer chuckled, "And I suppose that's Max Mizuhara and Ray Kon rollin' wit you too. Man, please!"

At this the trio couldn't help but send a look of disbelief towards the bouncer.

"Are you kidding me?" Tyson rolled his eyes, "Just let us the hell in," Tyson attempted to force his way passed but the bouncer was unmovable.

The big bald headed bouncer held up his fist and looked like he was about to punch Tyson but Ray finally decided to step in.

"Easy now. We don't want any trouble." The raven haired Chinese male stated as he stood his ground.

"Then get to the back of the line."

This triggered an argument now. Tyson was aggravated with the fact that the bouncer seemed to know who they were but he just didn't believe it. Annoyed, the navy haired teen snapped and ordered for the bouncer's to let them in.

* * *

><p>Inside, Lala was running around trying to get all her errands and tasks done before the match but the short Australian and Japanese female stopped as she heard the commotion by the main entrance. She walked her five foot three frame to the door and as she drew closer she noticed three familiar faces arguing with two of her bouncers.<p>

At first Lala seemed thrilled but as she noticed one of the bouncers about ready to strike someone, she made a dash for the door and smacked the bouncer in the arm.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on him, Yama." Lala warned as she got the bouncers attention. She soon turned to the next one, "You too, Tamotsu."

At first, there was only silence but the bouncer soon backed down. Tamotsu, the bouncer that had been standing on the other side of the line returned to his post while Yama looked at Lala then at the three Blade breakers, then back again.

Without looking at the boys, he pointed at them.

"You know these boys Miss Lala?"

Lala snorted as she put her hands of her hips, "Who doesn't!?" she exclaimed before throwing her hands up. She quickly shook her head before gesturing to Tyson, Ray and Max to come in. Begrudgingly, Yama made room for them to pass. "This is Tyson, Max and Ray from the Blade breakers!" she said in a hushed tone.

Yama's eyebrows rose as the glanced at all three boys, at Lala, then back again, "You serious?"

"Like a heart attack."

"Oh. My bad..." Yama apologized before offering his big fist for Tyson and the boys to pound, "Meant no disrespect man. Didn't think it was really you."

Tyson looked at Yama's fist before pounding it. He allowed a small smirk to come to his face, "No big, I guess..."

"Cool." Yama nodded before turning to the green eyed girl, "Didn't know you were tight wit the Blade breakers Miss Lala."

Lala shrugged as a devilish sort of smirk spread across her face like wild fire, "Pft, the Blade breakers and I? We go way back!"

Yama and Lala shared a laugh before the short Australian/ Japanese mix ordered Yama to return to his post. "Let's go boys," She then said and led the Blade breakers around.

"You know I was about to lay a beat down on your mountain of a bouncer right?" Tyson stated, earning him two eye rolls from Ray and Max but a laugh from Lala.

"I'm sure you were Tyson," She giggled as she turned a corner and faced the three boys. "You boys here for the battle?" she asked before suddenly becoming ecstatic. Lala soon began clapping and hopping up and down, "Ooh! Did the girls finally invite you!?"

Max, Tyson and Ray all exchanged glances before allowing mischievous looks to spread across their faces.

"Guess you can say that..." Tyson said.

Lala clapped her hands together again as she urged the trio forward. She began leading them down a series of hallways. "Can't see why they didn't tell you to go to the V.I.P entrance. You know the password right?"

Deciding to already go ahead with implied lie Tyson had begun with, Ray stated that they had forgotten it and Lala notified them that this weeks password was; Battle launcher. Lala went on to say that this password could get the boys almost anywhere in the backstage area, even in the change rooms.

"But I'm sure you boys know that." She smiled before winking at them all.

"Oh yeah... We know." Tyson smirked.

"Yeah... now..." Max added, mumbling the last part and earning a few chuckles from his two friends.

"Okay, since you're with one of the teams, I'll get you really good seats. After the first battle I'll come back and bring you guys to the girl's change room. I can't believe they didn't even tell me they were inviting you guys too!"

You guys too? Tyson, Max and Ray all exchanged glances, who else did they know was here? Tyson and Max figured Lala was probably talking about Ming-Ming. She was Naomi and Torah's cousin after all.

After a few more minutes of walking, Lala led the boys up a couple of stairs then opened a door. "Welcome to one of the luxury boxes boys. We don't have money for catering and stuff like that but the chairs are wicked comfortable."

Lala walked in first then stood by the door to allow the three Blade breakers entry to the luxury box. They walked in and looked around with awe. They couldn't believe how well maintained the inside of the stadium was compared to the outside.

Lala pointed to where the bathroom was but the boys seemed too caught up in looking around, which made the girl with baby green eyes laugh.

"Okay boys, I have work to do. Enjoy yourselves!" she quickly waved at them all before leaving and closing the door behind her.

For a long while none of them said anything. It wasn't until Max, Ray and Tyson all looked at one another did they speak again.

"Did we just step into the twilight zone?" Max questioned before slowly walking up over to the luxury box window. The blonde peered out over the massive crowd and couldn't believe the turn out. Was all this really for one match? Was all this for the girls?

Tyson and Ray soon followed suit of Max and came up on either side of him to look out at the crowd and battling area.

"This is so cool," Tyson breathed as he quickly looked around the box again. He soon allowed his flau red eyed to return to look out the window and that's when Tyson noticed the jumbo screen out hanging over the battle area.

It was flashing the words; "Battle of the Sexes" over and over again but it soon changed to state the team names. "Itazura Shounen" Versus "The Sweet and Sour Candies".

Tyson wanted to comment on all this. The fans, the stadium, the fact that his girlfriend's team seemed to be one of the most popular underground beybladers around but for once he was at a loss for words. Tyson exchanged glances with Ray and Max before smirking.

"Might as well get comfortable," Tyson remarked as he walked over to the seats and fell down into one of the chairs. He made himself comfortable before Ray and Max finally decided to sit down.

They looked up at the screen in their luxury box. They were showing pictures as well as the names of each competitor in tonight's first match. The boys couldn't help but feel some form of pride as they saw the Sweet and Sour Candies come up on the screen.

"This is unbelievable!" Max exclaimed.

"No kidding. Who would've thought they had a fan base this big?" Ray added.

Just then, the sound of the bathroom door clicking open, forced the boys up onto their feet but they all froze as they saw who walked out.

"HIRO?!"

The blue haired coach froze in the doorway as he caught sight of his younger brother and two friends. For what seemed like an eerily long time, all they did was stare at one another. It wasn't until Hiro actually shook his head did he speak.

Furrowing his eyebrows and slamming the door shut Hiro walked over to the trio and asked them what the hell they were doing at the stadium.

Tyson and he boys paused but soon sent back looks of inquiry of their own.

"Us?! What about you!? We thought you were back at the dojo sleeping!" Tyson shot back before eyeing his brother suspiciously.

"What I do is none of your concern. I'm an adult and I can do as I please."

"We're adults too Hiro..." Ray stated. It was true that both he and Tyson technically adults since they were both of the age of eighteen. Max was the only minor here but that didn't distract them from the situation at hand.

Again, Hiro asked what they were all doing here and Tyson voiced that they were here to see the girls battle. Hiro paused and grew skeptical. Toni had made an extreme fuss over J-Dymez allowing him to watch them battle, why would she do that if she had invited Tyson?

He knew Toni and Tyson had finally admitted their feelings for one another but not once did Hiro think that Toni had already told Tyson about what she and her team did. Hiro's stern gaze soon turned to Max. There was no questioning that wherever Tyson went, Max went but Hiro didn't put aside the fact that it was possible that Torah may have invited him.

Maybe that was why she had been so quiet at the Sweet and Sour Candies's house meeting.

Then there was Ray. Hiro couldn't quite understand why he'd be here but then again it was as clear as day that Naomi was crushing on the Chinese boy a little bit. Maybe she had slipped up and invited him as well... but then again, Ray could've just come along for the ride.

The Golden eyed male tended to be fairly nosey, but again, Hiro couldn't blame him. He had the same tendency.

"The others with you?" Hiro questioned before eyeing his teammates again.

Tyson and the boys shook their heads.

"Just us..."

Hiro nodded but soon let out a loud sigh. They were already here and there was no way of getting rid of them now. Holding out his hand, he offered the three junior members a seat and they sat. Hiro slowly walked over to the luxury box window and looked out over the sea of screaming people.

"Large crowd..." He began, "A lot with S.a.S.C T-shirts on... especially girls."

The boys said nothing as Hiro looked over his shoulder at them. He smiled before making his way over to sit with them.

"Enjoy the show boys." He said as he took a seat and looked up at the screen hanging from the luxury box ceiling.

* * *

><p>A Beyblade announcer had come out and he had gone on for an extremely long time about how there were a lot of things riding on this battle. He first stated that tonight's first match was going to make history then said how it was a battle of the sexes.<p>

An all boys team versus an all girls team.

The announcer then went on to state what was at stake and the Blade breakers couldn't help but whistle and be stunned about what was up for grabs. Premium bey parts as well as two top of the line gear engines.

The lights began to dim and then there was a drum roll. The boys were all on edge as the announcer called out the Itazura Shounen or Itashounen for short, out first. The crowd cheered as a group of six boys came out onto the battling stadium.

They held up their arms for more cheers and Tyson snorted.

"They don't look so tough." He commented.

"NOW!" The announcer's voice boomed through the microphone and out every speaker in the stadium, "Give it up for the fem-underdogs themselves! The SWEET AND SOUR CANDIIIIIIIIIES!" she dragged out the word candies and the crowd went wild. Screaming at the top of their lungs and howling like a bunch of maniacs.

The Boys in the luxury box couldn't help but be impressed. The girls's fans sounded almost like theirs.

It wasn't long before the girls came out onto the battling area. First it was J-Dymez and the team support - Tiky and Kierra - They waved and Tiky and Kierra blew a few kisses to the crowd before going off to sit on a bench in their corner.

One by one each Sweet and Sour Candy girl came out as her name was called.

First out was Toni Freeman. The short guyanese female walked out and waved but she wore a hard expression. Tyson smirked. That was Toni for you... miserable no matter the occasion. Although under that hard expression, Tyson knew she had to be excited.

Next was Katarinna James. The stone eyed beauty came out and nodded at the crowd of screaming fans but did not do much else after that.

Next was Torah Jackson-DuBois. She came out guns blazing. She struck a pose, waved at her adoring public and smiled all the while. She threw up peace signs and waved for the cameras once more before trotting off to join her group. Max smiled... That was Torah for you. A sixteen year old firecracker.

Lastly was Naomi Jackson-DuBois. She came out and the crowd cheered just as hard for her as they did everyone else on her team but the sheepish female merely waved and gave a weak smile before quickly running to join her group. A small smile crept to Ray's face. That was Naomi for you... never one to enjoy being in the spotlight.

"Let's get ready to LET 'EM RIP!" the Announcer roared, receiving one last cheer from the fans before trotting off stage.

On the jumbo screens, it showed the first two contestants names but on the screen in the luxury box it showed the name as well as the picture.

Torah versus Travis Sato.

Both competitors came out onto the battlefield. Torah had an air of calm while Travis trotted out with extreme confidence. He wore a devil smirk and pointed at Torah before bringing his finger back to theoretically slice at his throat.

Torah's strong baby blues narrowed at Travis but she did nothing gestural to respond. Instead she held out her arm, that held her launcher and prepared to battle.

Travis had a standard launcher and was more than ready to start this battle.

The countdown began and the two foes got into the zone as they took their launching stances over the deep beydish.

3. 2. 1. LET 'EM RIP!

With extreme force, Travis tore at his rip cord and unleashed his beyblade. Torah held her arm steadily as she shot out hers and the battle begun.

Torah's electric green and gold coloured beyblade crashed into Travis's dark grey one then pulled apart as the two jumped back and began physically synced with their beyblades.

"You're not who I wanted to battle Torah but you'll have to do!" Travis commented as he smirked his devil smirk at her.

"Bring it Travis!" Torah shot back before speeding off around the bey dish towards the maniacal looking beyblader. She came at him with a flying round kick and almost kicked Travis in the face but he held up his arms in defence.

Torah's beyblade went soaring into Travis's and for a while the two metal tops grounded into one another, sending sparks flying left and right. Torah held this stance with her leg up, trying to break through Travis's defence noticing it was no use and that he was about to strike back with a counter, she jumped back and did a backwards tumble.

This caused her blade to pull back and she and her blade both prepared for an attack.

Travis came running at Torah but she ducked out of the way. Travis blade went careening towards Torah's but her green and gold blade was able to dodge the attack.

Travis came around with a punch and Torah had to duck even further to dodge it but that left her open for another attack and Travis brought both his fists down onto Torah's back.

Travis's blade hopped up onto Torah's Blade and bashed it into the ground before pulling back with Travis.

"What!?" Max snapped before getting up onto his feet, "He can't hit her! She a girl!" He growled with clenched fists.

"Bullshit!" Tyson added, seeming just as offended by the act as Max had been.

Hiro raised his hand and silently told the two to cool it. He wore a face of resolve as he brought his hands back to lie on the arm rests. "Its accepted here. It's just the way it is." Hiro didn't like that people were actually allowed to physically fight but that was just the way things were done in the underground bey circuit.

"Are you serious?!" the three males asked, quickly looking at Hiro before returning to look at the display screen.

"That's not fair! Beyblading is a sport of skills not brawn!" Ray stated. Hiro merely just shook his head.

"Brawn plays a big part of the sport here. Sure, Brains, skill and strategy are needed but here... you need the brawn to back it all up..."

All the trio could do were shake their head as they continued to watch the match.

The crowd was in an uproar and Naomi, Tiky and Kierra worryingly got to their feet as they saw Torah being attacked but cheered as the terracotta skinned female came back with a vengeance.

She did a whirl around kick and knocked Travis off his feet before hopping back onto hers. Ready for action. Torah let out a battle cry before running at Travis and jumping up to bring a hard hammer like punch to his chest like he had done with her back.

Torah's blade came back to life with Torah, knocking Travis's blade to the centre of the dish. Travis's blade wobbled but didn't fall. Torah's green and gold blade came again to serve the blow she was preparing to lay down by charging at Travis's blade for the attack.

Travis rolled out of the way. Just in time to narrowly escape Torah's attack. His blade did the same by side winding out of harms reach. Torah grunted with irritation but pulled back to avoid being hit by Travis again.

"Prepare for the opening of a can of WHOOP ASS! It's a hundred percent pure!" Torah said as she hopped up and went into a different mode. She jumped lightly up and down on her feet sort of like how a boxer did before attacking.

Travis quickly got to his feet and smirked again.

"You don't know who you're messing with little girl." He warned as both he and Torah began circling the dish.

Their blades did the same.

"No. I don't think YOU, know who you're dealing with!" She snapped before charging out towards Travis again. He had been planning to run the other direction but Torah was surprisingly fast on her feet and caught up with him and sent a good punch out, clipping his shoulder. She sent another one that missed but then she launched another one that hit him square in the chest. "I'm Torah Jackson-DuBois!" Without warning she came up and kneed him in the abdomen, "BITCH!" she said as he crumbled to the floor.

Torah's blade hit Travis's from one side, then another. It missed the second time but was right on the mark with the third. The last blow had sent Travis's beyblade tittering on the edge and then Torah's blade pulled back just as she did.

She knew one more hit wouldn't be enough to bring Travis down, nor would it do any good because if she got any closer it would leave her legs open for an attack so she pulled back.

Travis hopped back up and took a fighting stance his fist out. His beyblade stabled and there was pure hate burning in his deep red coloured eyes.

"Oh... you're gonna wish you didn't do that."

Torah merely smirked as she went back to her boxer's stance, "Get it Shawty, Get it Shawty." she provoked in a sing-song voice, using Lloyd's 'Get it Shawty' song as a reference.

Travis gritted his teeth together as he charged at Torah without even thinking. She smirked. Just what she wanted. A blind attack.

"THEORIS!" She yelled, calling out to her blade, "Hold him back girl! Meteor Defence!" Torah spread out her arms just before Travis tried football charging into her.

There was a bright flash of light that came from the bey dish and within a split second the whole place lit up as an odd Bit beast came bursting forth from Torah's blade. It was a four winged creature that looked like a mix between an eagle and a wolf. It was green, almost the same green as Torah's beyblade and it wore golden armour.

The beast known as Theoris let out a mighty eagle-like shriek before throwing up a shining wall of defence that Travis's blade came crashing into.

Max and the boys were all up out of their seats and watched this all happen with extreme intent. They focused on the Bit beast that came forward and they all stared at it with amazement. Theoris was a magnificent looking creature.

Soon after, Max began smiling. Meteor Defence... Torah's blade was a defensive type... just like Draciel.

Travis's attack was stopped dead in his tracks but that didn't stop him from trying to force his way into Torah to body slam her to the ground. Torah sent him a smile that looked innocent but held a feeling of mocking.

Travis wanted to spit at her but it wasn't long before he smirked as well and jumped back. He pointed a maniacal finger at her.

"You're not the only one with a bit beast," He grinned before throw his hand up in the air to call out his own beast. "Manic!"

Torah froze but held up her defensive shield. She didn't know when Travis or any of the member's of D.J.'s crew got bit beasts but she didn't seem all that worried. Just because one obtained a beast didn't mean their skills were any better.

Torah also couldn't help but make the coincidental connection that Travis - probably D.J.'s most insane crony - had a bit beast named Manic.

A swirl of dimmed light came shining from the dish now and it wasn't long before Travis menacing looking Bit beast came flying out.

It was a black falcon with a beak and talons that were dark grey like his blade. The talons were razor sharp looking and the beak of the beast looked like a serrated knife. Its eyes seemed soulless and black and it was almost like staring into an abyss.

A cold shiver ran up Torah's spine at the beast but she held her ground.

"ATTACK!" Travis shouted as he sent his bit beast screaming towards Theoris.

In the bey dish the two blades collided and Theoris held up her defence but Manic was slowly breaking through it. Each deep grind cut into Torah's actual skin. The wound's weren't deep thanks to Theoris's Meteor Defence but it wouldn't be long until Manic broke through and caused some real damage.

Having to break away, Torah tuck and rolled over to her right and this caused Theoris to spin out of Manic's heated path for her.

Travis laughed as he looked at Torah.

"Feelin' the heat?"

Torah stood there, breathing heavily, trying to properly calculate her next move. She wanted time to think - she needed time to think but she knew she didn't have enough time.

"Don't think so highly of yourself yet. The battle's not over!"

Travis cackled a little, "Oh but it will be. By the way... did you know that the outcome of today's match will decided if your team is really going to the U.B.T?"

Torah's eyes widened with shock, "You're lying!" she barked, trying to call him out on his bluff but Travis merely shrugged as he smirked at her.

"There's a reason to why this battle has so much hype. If your team loses, you're not going to the U.B.T. Thems the breaks sister..."

Torah bite her lip and quickly looked towards her team, who all wore faces of astonishment. Things were definitely about to get more heated in the stadium.


	31. Chapter 31

Author's Note:

I just wanted to tell all of you who have followed this story; Thank you and that I am sorry.

My apology is for not being attentive to this fanfiction and that I will be from now on. I've finished it and I've started on the second story of this series. Updates may be slow on that one but I'll try my best to keep up.

Again, Thank you for being such dedicated lovers of beyblade and fans of my story~ LOVE YOU ALL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 31<p>

The Sweet and Sour Candies all stood up as they were all filled with outrage. There was an onslaught of disapproving comments and curse words throw out about the steaks of this battle and J-Dymez whirled around in their team pit looking around at the group.

"Where is Lala!?" She snapped as she looked to her girls for answers.

Neither Toni nor Kat replied. For one thing, they didn't know where Lala was but they were too busy cursing and stating that Travis was nothing more than a liar.

"That's not fair!" Naomi said. Her voice was filled with discontent and it slightly broke so it sounded as if she were on the verge of tears. "We worked so hard to get here. How can one battle ruin it all?"

J-Dymez didn't know the answer but she sneered. She didn't know exactly who called the shots around here but she figured it was the big cheese's way of getting more people in the stands. Again, the light skinned Jamaican female asked where Lala was and the girls looked amongst themselves.

They didn't know.

With a loud grunt, J-Dymez kicked the bench and stepped a heated path out to find the Australian and Japanese Mix.

This had all been caught on camera and the announcer made a joke about how fuming mad J-Dymez was about hearing this news and Hiro couldn't blame her. He knew just how hard the girls had worked for all this and now they were trying to take it away from them?

He shook his head as he got up onto his feet and headed for the door so that he could investigate. Tyson and Max were too swept up into the battle to notice Hiro secretively slipping out but Ray caught it and in seconds he was over by the door.

He caught Hiro before the blue haired coach was able to storm out of the luxury box.

"Where are you going?" Ray questioned.

Hiro and Ray stared at one another for a while. Ray searched for answers while Hiro just stared back with annoyance. It wasn't directed towards Ray but him stopping Hiro from leaving definitely wasn't helping the situation.

"I going to find out what the hell is going on before J-Dymez goes postal." Hiro stated.

Ray furrowed his eyebrows together. He had made a few connections from the small amount of information given during the match. He knew that this battle had a lot at stake and it was sort of a life or death situation for the Sweet and Sour Candies and their position in the U.B.T.

It had taken a moment or two but Ray figured that the U.B.T. might've been something along the lines of an underground beyblade tournament.

It hit him soon after that that was exactly what it was. He had felt foolish in not figuring it out before since the initials were a dead give away but now wasn't a time for that.

The golden eyed male wasn't sure as to how much Hiro knew about all this but he wanted to find out, not just because of Hiro but he wanted to know just what kind of place this run down stadium was and what the girls had gotten themselves involved in.

"I'm coming with you." He stated and Hiro sent him a stern look.

"No. Stay with Tyson and Max. If you leave, they'll follow and you know how Tyson can get."

They both looked over at the two males, standing up and cursing Travis for his dirty tactics and praising Torah every time she threw a counter attack or held up her defence.

"Judging from the way Max's acting, he'll be just as big of a loose cannon as Tyson. Watch them."

"But-"

"I said watch them." Hiro glared at Ray and with an intense stare he told the eighteen year old that this was a strict order.

Ray furrowed his eyebrows together and cursed in Chinese before reluctantly agreeing and sending Hiro off on his way. The raven haired male slammed the door behind his blue haired coach and turned to look at the screen. He never expected the underground world of beyblading to be this intense.

Things certainly had changed since before he had become one of the worlds top beybladers.

Angrily, Ray returned to his seat to finish watching Torah's match.

* * *

><p>Torah flew back and rolled on the hard steely floor of the battle area. Manic had broken through Theoris's defence and this sent both the blade and the master flying. Torah groaned as she tried bringing herself back up on her feet but Travis wouldn't allow that.<p>

He ran over and rolled the girl over onto her back before picking her up by the collar.

"Whose laughing now?" He asked with an acidic smile then threw her back onto the ground.

Torah was so tired but she knew she had to get up and defend herself but... she was just so tired. She didn't bother to try and stop it as her body fell back onto the floor.

Some of the crowd boo'ed and some cheered but Torah couldn't hear any of it past the ringing in her ears. She was just so tried and bruised... but she wasn't beat.

No Sir. She thought. She definitely hadn't been beaten yet.

Travis looked down at Torah still wearing that devil's smirk of his as his Bit beast charged at her's over and over again, sending Theoris further back to the edge of the dish.

"You're not so tough..." He sneered.

Back in the team pits. It had taken everything for security to hold the Sweet and Sour Candies back from taking the arena and beating the living hell out of Travis and his teammates. They punched, kicked and screamed to get past but it was all in vain.

D.J. and his crew looked at them. D.J. smirked while Jay-Yu seemed completely unfazed by any of this. The other boys seemed worried that the girls would break through and Mike... just seemed lost. The team wasn't even sure if he knew where they were right now.

"I'll kill that son of a bitch! I'll kill him!" Toni yelled as she pointed at Travis.

Travis looked up and waved at Toni. Adding insult to injury. He then winked and swept his arm through the air, sending Manic out on the attack again.

Travis's dark grey blade beat away at Torah's electric green and gold one and each blow served as a kick or a punch to Torah's actual body. It hurt beyond all comprehension but not once did Torah get up.

Up in the luxury box this drove Max crazy. He couldn't bear to watch this and with every comment the announcer made about Torah and Theoris taking blows, Max flinched until he suddenly turned and bolted for the door.

Tyson and Ray turned but it was Ray who ran for the blonde. He knew Max was probably trying to go off to do something stupid and since he promised Hiro, Ray stopped him.

"Max! Cool it before you do something stupid," Ray spoke as he took hold of Max and held his arms back in a full Nelson. Max fought for freedom and actually cursed. He ordered Ray to let him go but the Chinese blader wouldn't let him. "Max, calm down!"

"You calm the hell down! Just let me go! What the hell is the matter with you!? Torah's down there taking blows and your not even phased by it!?"

"Of course I am! I just don't want you doing something stupid!"

Again, Max continued to struggle against Ray and much to Ray's surprise Max had almost broken free a couple of times.

Tyson wasn't even sure as of what to do. He was just as mad but he just stood there frozen.

"This is intense shit..." The navy haired world champion breathed as he took of his cap and ran his fingers through his hair.

"WHAT'S THIS! A NEW TURN OF EVENTS?!" the announcer bellowed, regaining Tyson's attention.

He turned his flau red eyes to the screen and watched as they showed Torah's recovery in slow motion.

"Torah just got up unexpectedly and grabbed both of Travis's arms! She did a backwards bridge and took Travis down like a pro wrestler! This sixteen year old is NOT to be messed with!"

Tyson stood there with amazement at how smooth Torah's actions were and although it was quite the risk it seemed effective and threw Travis off completely.

"Ray. Max. MAX! LOOK!" Tyson exclaimed as he pointed at the broadcasting screen. It showed another slow motion replay of Torah's sudden counter attack in the corner of the screen and Max couldn't help but freeze completely.

Travis was on all fours now, shaking his head, trying to regain his senses leaving him and ManicManic open.

With a roundhouse kick to the back of the head, Theoris came around and knocked Manic from behind. The dark grey blade wobbled as Travis went crashing down to the floor, not even sure as to what hit him.

Torah stepped back and brought her hand up to the sky.

"Theoris! Rain of Comets!" she yelled and the bey dish lit up again.

Theoris screeched that eagle call of hers and Torah let out her battle cry as a down pour of shining comets came crashing down into the dish over both blades.

A few people had to shield their eyes from the light but the Blade breakers and the members of the S.a.S.C all watched as Torah did this attack.

It felt like the stadium shook with a force that seemed like it had been from an earthquake but when the smoke cleared and light faded all that was left was a severely damaged beydish and two blades outside of its ruined remains.

Only one was still spinning and that was Theoris.

There was at least three seconds of silence before the crowd went wild and roared with cheers for the Sweet and Sour Candies first victory.

"I have never seen a comeback like that in my LIFE! Not once have I ever seen someone come back that hard and with such force that it broke the stadium stage apart!" The announcer gushed and went on.

Torah's fans cheered for her but again, she couldn't hear past the ringing in her ears. She smiled before calling Theoris back to her. Once the beyblade was back in her hand Torah fell to her knees then laid down in the wreckage.

"She won! Holy Shit she won!" Tyson cheered as he jumped up and down then ran over to Max and Ray. He gave them both congratulatory punches and threw his hands up to cheer for the spunky girl.

Ray merely stood there, completely awestruck. He had finally released Max who was sitting on the floor now breathing heavily.

On the screen hanging from the ceiling, they showed a replay of Torah's amazing ending attack and Max felt like he couldn't breathe. Not once did he think the girls could pack power like that.

It wasn't long before both Ray and Tyson helped Max up onto his feet and the blonde looked at both his friends, trying to make sure what he was seeing was the truth. Tyson was still cheering like a mad man and Ray was smiling as he watched the replay.

"Whoa..." Ray breathed.

Max let a half smile come to his face, "Yeah... whoa..." As they showed an image of Torah being dragged to her feet by her sister and two best friends that's when Max felt his stomach flip again. He needed to get to Torah and fast.

The freckled face half American, half Japanese boy sped for the door and bolted down the steps. Ray groaned and was forced to run after him since he knew Hiro would be beyond mad if he lost either him or Tyson.

Before leaving, Ray told Tyson to stay and watch the match while he brought Max back. Tyson nodded and prepared for the next battle. He hoped that Torah was okay but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the screen now as it announced the next battle.

Jay-Yu Yakashima Versus Naomi Jackson-DuBois.

* * *

><p>Torah was okay. She was just exhausted and badly briused. She had aches, cuts and pains but she'd live. She knew that. She had been in this pain before and knew that as long as she got the rest she needed she'd be back on her feet in no time.<p>

"Torah!? Torah, are you alright!?" Kierra asked, begging to know her friends condition. After she, Naomi and Tiky had helped her back to the team pit, medics had come to see if Torah needed to be sent to hospital. They bandaged up the sixteen year old and she sent them on their way saying that she was staying to watch her elder sister's match.

"I'm okay!" Torah groggily snapped as she pressed her hand to Kierra's face and weakly pushed her away, "Girl, you're too close!"  
>"She's okay!" Tiky beamed. Both she and Kierra were about to go in and hug the Jamaican and Bajan brunette but Torah dove off the bench instead. It hurt but it was better than enduring one of Kierra and Tiky's back breaking hugs.<p>

Kat and Toni watched as the three of them goofed around a little bit before turning to look at Naomi who was staring out at the stadium. They had brought the broken bey dish down through the floor and it took awhile but they soon replaced it for a new dish and now it was her turn to battle.

After what she had just seen, Naomi was dreading it.

"Naomi listen to me." Toni said, grabbing her attention, "Everything is riding on this and I can't switch out with you. You're going to have to go out there and show them that you're a Candy and that you are not to be messed with!"

Naomi looked at Toni and Kat with horror written all over her face. Her soft doe eyes looked back out to where she was about to battle and she turned back shaking.

"I-I- c-can't. I won't win..."

"The hell you won't!" Kat growled, "You'll win Naomi!"

Toni nodded, "You're a good beyblader. You'll win this,"

Naomi shook her head, "I'm not half as good as either of you! I'm gonna lose!" she began crying a little bit as she thought about everything that was riding on these battles, "I'm gonna lose..." she said again, her voice not even above a hushed tone.

"No, you're not! Naomi listen to me! You. Will. Win." Toni encouraged as she placed both hand on the taller females shoulders, "Do you hear me?"

Naomi sniffled but nodded.

"Now repeat after me, You are going to win! Say it."

She said nothing.

"Naomi. Say it." Kat ordered.

The chocolate skinned female felt her whole body shake. She hated when she had both the captain and vice captain on her like this. As much support as they were trying to give, she couldn't help but feel inferior... she was just an average beyblader.

"Naomi!" They both snapped to capture her attention and she shivered.

"I can't! Toni please battle for me! I don't know why you put me to battle in the first place! I'm no good at it. I'm not half as good as any of you, I-"

"Stop!" Toni snapped again, cutting Naomi off, "I am sick and tired of this shit you're sayin'. Naomi you're a Candy! You worked hard and you fought harder. You're a bad ass bitch! All you need to do it go out there and prove it."

There was a moment of silence before Naomi looked from Toni to Kat then back again. She refrained from speaking and the two other females sighed. Kat brought a hand to Naomi's shoulder as Toni began smiling.

"You can do it, girl. I know you can... just try."

Naomi wanted to protest again but the ringing of the bell said she had no time and now was her moment to go out there and start battling. Kat and Toni forced her up towards the battle arena and Naomi looked back at them with sorrow.

They told her again that she'd win and Naomi turned around and walked to the dish with heavy feet. She chanted in her head over and over again that she would win but she didn't believe it. She shuttered as the announcer said for her and her opponent to prepare their launchers.

"What's the matter Naomi... scared?" Jay-Yu asked. He seemed emotionless but his tone didn't mask the taunting. "Your team should've never underestimated us. You guys may have won the first battle but that was only because Travis is an egotistical moron... the next battles won't be as easy."

Naomi gulped. That first battle had been considered easy!?

The two prepared their launchers. Naomi had an arm launcher, just like the rest of her team and so did Jay-Yu. They stepped back and prepared for battle.

3. 2. 1. LET 'EM RIP!

* * *

><p>Max had gotten pretty far before Ray finally caught up to him. The Chinese beyblader took hold of his friend told Max that they had better return to the luxury box but Max just looked at Ray as if he had grown an extra head.<p>

"Seriously? Ray... I need to see if she's okay. She's my girlfriend-"

"And I understand that! I'm worried about Torah too but you need to make sure your calm before you run off. If you see that Travis kid, I know things will get ugly."

Max didn't say anything because he knew Ray was right. If Max did come across Travis on his way to see Torah, there was no denying that he'd try to get back at him for what happened out there on the arena.

"I get it okay? It makes no sense to allow guys to hit women but don't be brash and jump into things. That's how people end up dead."

Max sighed and nodded, he knew that too.

Ray half smiled. At least the blonde was calmer now. He patted Max on the shoulder. He knew it was probably best for them to get back to the box but Ray paused to think about what if he were in Max's shoes. He'd want to see his girlfriend too and make sure she was alright... and sure, if he saw Travis he'd want to tear him a new one so everything Max was feeling was completely understandable.

Sighing, Ray turned to his friend, "We don't have long since I have no idea when Hiro'll be back but... let's go find the girls and see how Torah's doing. Okay?"

Max began smiling ear to ear upon hearing this. He was at a loss for words so all he did was smile and lead the way. Of course he had no idea where he was going but that certainly wasn't going to stop him.

* * *

><p>J-Dymez was arguing with Lala when Hiro had found them and now he was knee deep in this argument. Both he and J-Dymez were barking questions at Lala like a couple of wild dogs and she was only able to answer a few.<p>

This got them both angry but he tried not to show it. Finally noticing just how wrong it was to be verbally assaulting her, Hiro pulled back, took a deep breath then stopped J-Dymez before the pale bronze skinned female could strangle the little one.  
>"I'm sorry!" Lala whined, "I don't know all the details. I tried telling you that this battle had big steaks! I just wasn't sure how big. You know how D.J. and his crew get. They think every little thing they do is important!"<p>

J-Dymez wanted to smack something or tear something apart but neither Lala or Hiro deserved that so instead she kicked over the nearest pile of metal chairs. She groaned and fussed and when that was finally out of her system she calmed herself and turned to them.

"Who the hell do they think they are!? Saying that this match is riding on our chances at joining the U.B.T. You know what! When I find D.J. and his group of assholes, I'll hit them so hard I'll knock the colour out of their eyes! Do you hear me!?"

Hiro sighed and nodded as he placed his hands on J-Dymez shoulders, "Yeah, I hear you but be rational. Sure, this is all a bunch of unfair nonsense but it IS nonsense. I mean; you said it yourself. D.J.'s team wasn't really any good. Why are they so good now? Why are they dogging your team?"

"They've always dogged our team because some of D.J. and his boys want my girls. Travis - the crazy one- he likes Toni because she can't stand him. Jay-Yu wants Naomi, D.J. wants Torah and Mike wants..."

"A sandwich..." Lala answered the last one and it caused both Hiro and J-Dymez to look at her but Hiro was the only one that looked confused.

"A sandwich? What?"

Lala shrugged, "Mike's... not the sharpest attack ring in the bunch. He's cute, not smart..."

Hiro couldn't help but wonder where the hell this had all come from but he shook the Mike comment out of his head as he looked at J-Dymez, "Are you sure that this is just about them wanting your girls I mean... I'm a man and this isn't really our way of stating we like you."

J-Dymez shook her head then ran her fingers through her wavy brown hair. "I don't know. They're stupid. The only smart one is Jay-Yu but he's always following D.J.'s orders and D.J.'s always listening to the HeadMan,"

Hiro cocked an eyebrow, "The HeadMan?"

Both the Jamaican girl and the blade engineer shrugged.

"The HeadMan, the Big Cheese, the Chairman, the Boss. No one knows his real name but he calls the shots. I'm thinking he has something to do with all this." Lala said.

Hiro nodded, "But why?"

The two females shrugged.

"No one ever knows why The Boss does what he does. No one's even seen him from what I heard but he keeps the place running and sends everyone else to do the dirty work. What he says goes..."

The blue haired coached and J-Dymez exchanged glances. He wanted to get to the bottom of all this. Everything just seemed too suspicious and he was determined to find out why.

Yet another reason to hate underground beyblading. Not only was it unnecessarily violent but everyone seemed up to something...

* * *

><p>Naomi dropped backwards onto the steely floor and knocked the back of her skull against it fairly hard. Of course it was painful and headache inducing but the girl in purple got back up onto her feet and hopped about like a rabbit.<p>

The sweetest of the candies was an average blader, that much was certain but unlike any of the others, most of Naomi's skill and tactics included her feet and legs. She wasn't much of a puncher but Naomi could kick like an angry horse.

"I promised to go easy on you..." Jay-Yu remarked as he circled the dish. His all black beyblade doing the same as it circled around Naomi's light purple and silver themed beyblade.

Naomi knew it was probably the best time to snap and tell Jay-Yu that she didn't want his sympathy but that would be a lie. She just wanted this battle to be over with. She didn't want to have to fight like this.

Sure, she had gotten use to it over the past year or two but tonight seemed like a bad night to fight. Naomi was never really one to believe in superstitions or anything of the sort but after Travis had called out his bit beast, she knew that the battles after were definitely going to be just as bad or even worse.

"You look so scared... You can forfeit if you really want to... I don't want to strike you." Jay-Yu said, but Naomi found that a little hard to believe. He never had a problem grabbing her arm or anything like that, why would this time be any different.

Her stomach suddenly went loopy at the offer of forfeiting but she knew that was out of the question.

Jay-Yu's blade kept circling Naomi's. Circling and circling and circling and to most that was probably the most foolish thing to allow but that's just how Naomi worked. If he attacked she'd probably be able to dodge it or maybe even counter but all she wanted was for this match to be over.

"Are you scared Naomi?" Jay-Yu asked, finally stopping to stand and stare at her.

"Y-yes..." She admitted, standing perfectly still now.

"Then give up. You're not a fighter..."

"I-I... I'm not giving up." She said retaking her battle ready status. She kept her arms up, close to her chest and began hopping around again. "I..." she looked back quickly at her team, before turning back to look at Jay-Yu. There was a lot riding on all this and as much as she wanted to run, there was no turning back, "I'm going to win..." she said to herself.

Jay-Yu hadn't caught what she said but he didn't have time to care. It was time to attack and end this. He ran at the timid female at top speed and he saw her flinch as he drew closer.

His black beyblade lunged for hers and as Jay-Yu went to reach out and grab Naomi she hot stepped out of the way and dodged.

Her purple and silver blade moved out of harms way and Jay-Yu groaned. This wasn't going to be much of a battle if all she did was run away from him.

"I'm going to win. I'm going to win. I'm going to win," She chanted and Jay-Yu turned to grab at her again. His blade followed suit and went careening towards Naomi's blade but again she backed out of harm's way.

She bent over backwards to avoid Jay-Yu's attack and kicked up at his arm with her leg. It made contact and sent Jay-Yu's arm flying back to his body.

Jay-Yu's blade went in for the attack but Naomi's back away and came crashing into it unexpectedly. The two blades ground into one another briefly before pulling back.

"I'm going to win, I'm going to win," Her chanting became a bit louder as she took the offensive route and ran at Jay-Yu, Naomi continued to keep her hands close she went in with a kick boxer's kick, then a round house and she kept kicking and kicking and kicking at Jay-Yu, forcing him back.

Naomi's purple blade charged at Jay-Yu's and served hit after hit after hit until Jay-Yu began to retreat. He and his blade ran away from the opponent to mull over his next line of attack. He wasn't about to let her win, regardless of his feelings for her.

Again Naomi ran at Jay-Yu. She hopped up and did a flying spin kick towards his chest or torso. She aimed for whatever she could hit as she kept chanting, "I'm going to win, I'm going to win!"

Jay-Yu had almost taken Naomi's kick to the face but he ducked out of harm's way and this cause this blade to do the same.

Knocking off the doe-like female's sense of balance for a second, it left Naomi open for an attack, Jay-Yu grabbed her by one of her arms and was about to toss her half way across the battle arena when Naomi suddenly brought her hand up and forced her monkey-palm styled fist right into Jay-Yu's forehead.

The two beyblades crashed together and the sparks flew but it was Jay-Yu's blade that pulled back first. He was in pain and hand't seen Naomi's attack coming. She pulled back as well still hopping like a rabbit.

"I will win." She stated and prepared for Jay-Yu to charge at her.

The boy turned to her with dark eyes narrowed. He shook his head and quickly checked to see if he was bleeding, "You're going to regret that..." He threatened before taking a fighting stance of his own.

Naomi said nothing as she started chanting in her head now. She was becoming more confident.

Jay-Yu narrowed his eyes at her before running to come back with an attack. His blade blazed a burning hot trail towards Naomi's beyblade and he saw her flinch again but the purple eyed female stood her ground.

She hadn't timed herself properly so just as Naomi went in for another kick, she was still able to hit Jay-Yu but the dark eyed male came in close and actually smack her right across the face. Naomi was knocked down and rolled.

The black beyblade charged into the purple and silver one and although Naomi's blade landed a hit, Travis's attack was much stronger and he black beyblade knocked the purple and silver one to the edge of the dish.

"I'm sorry I had to hit you but I wasn't about to let you get the better of me." Jay-Yu commented as he walked towards Naomi's fallen form.

She was on the floor shaking and holding her bruised cheek. Not once had she ever been slapped across the face like that.

The crowd sat on edge and howled as Jay-Yu grew closer to Naomi then picked her up by grabbing her hair. She screamed and tried breaking free but Jay-Yu kept a firm grip on her. He forced Naomi to stand.

Jay-Yu's black blade came crashing into Naomi's again and the two metal tops began to grind against each other, letting more sparks fly. The purple and silver blade stood its ground but it being forced back up and out of the dish. It wouldn't be long until it was out and the match ended.  
>"I didn't want to hit you," Jay-Yu said as he went to whisper in Naomi's ear. He actually spun her around by her hair and grabbed at her neck but held her back with one arm. Naomi fought to get Jay-Yu's hand away from her throat since she couldn't properly breathe but he was too strong. "I hate to do this but I'm just following orders..."<p>

"Y-you're a coward..." Naomi choked as she tried beating his arm away but to no vail. Jay-Yu flinched but said nothing. "Y-you're a coward. A big coward," she repeated and this time Jay-Yu narrowed his eyes at her before throwing the chocolate skinned girl to the ground.

The black blade pulled back to knock the purple and silver blade out the dish and that would've been the end for Naomi's beyblade if it didn't move to the side. The girl's blade was still hit by it's opponent but instead of being forced out the dish it was sent towards the left side of the dish.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that." Jay-Yu growled as he walked over to Naomi slowly. Might as well end it he thought and was about to call out his bit beast but Naomi came back and kicked Jay-Yu in the stomach.

Jay-Yu got the breath knocked right out of him and he hunched over in pain, Naomi hopped back up onto her feet and brought her knee up to kick Jay-Yu in the face. Her knee made contact and the dark eyed male stumbled back in pain.

"OH MY GOD! Who saw that coming!?" the Announcer went on, "The baby Candy girl packs some wicked power in those long legs of hers! Don't get into a kick boxing match with that one!" he said and Naomi couldn't help but feel a little proud of herself.

Her blade came back with new strength as it went flying into Jay-Yu's blade and knocked it back a couple of times but pulled away as the blade beyblade began to wobble.

"Maybe I really am going to win..." Naomi smiled as she hopped back and readied herself for the last attack. "NEFERTITI!" She shouted, calling out her bit beast.

There was a beam of light and an elegant two tailed, purple fox appeared with shining silver armour came forth. The beast was ready for action and this moment, Naomi was ready to bring another victory to her team.

Running at Jay-Yu with top speed, Naomi let out her own battle cry as she and her Nefertiti blade went sailing towards the opponent. Just in time, Jay-Yu looked up and just as he was about to be kicked again, he brought his arms up and grabbed the Jamaican and Bajan girl's ankle.

"You should learn to fight with your hands too," He commented and twisted her leg. Naomi yelled out in pain and Jay-Yu smirked as their two blades hit each other and began grinding into one another again. "COME OUT TACTIC!"

Tactic, a fitting name for Jay-Yu's beyblade. A dark and dirty looking coyote beast came roaring out of the black beyblade and it howled before staring Naomi's Nefertiti down with evil yellow eyes. The coyote lunged forward and bit at the back of Nefertiti's neck.

Naomi cried out in pain again as she felt the feeling of sharp canine teeth actually digging into the back of her neck. It hurt so much that it brought tears to her eyes. Jay-Yu finally released Naomi by tossing her to the ground and sent his beyblade forward. He wanted to finish the job.

"Sorry it had to end like this..." He said before shouting out for the bit beast to attack.

Tactic growled and barked before ramming into Nefertiti who didn't know what to do. Her master was down and it left the purple and silver fox blade open for an attack.

Naomi felt the pain in her chest and all the air was forced out of her lungs. The room was spinning and she felt so weak that her vision began to blur. She was close to passing out but she tried fighting it back as much as she possibly could.

"NO!" Torah yelled as she got up and looked at her sister, "Naomi get up! Come girl, get up!" She urged her sister on but she knew she couldn't be heard over the screaming crowd. Tiky and Kierra all watched with horror behind Torah and Kat and Toni watched with heavy hearts.

"Come on Naomi... get up..." Kat urged and it hurt her to see her team mate take another blow as Jay-Yu sent his beyblade on the attack again.

A gash across Naomi's chest formed and there was a little bit of blood. Like Torah's wounds it wasn't too deep but the blood began to stain her clothes and Naomi's body jerked and shuttered with pain.  
>"Oh God-" Tiky gasped as she brought her hands up to her mouth, "For the love of God, someone stop the match!" She screamed but no one seemed to move.<p>

"Get up. Get up. Get up." Toni urged but Naomi kept taking the blows.

"Finish the job Tactic..." Jay-Yu said as he started walking away from the dish. "You fought well... not well enough of course..." With another slash at the air, Jay-Yu sent his beyblade forward to end the battle.

Tactic went charging at Nefertiti but just as it was about to hit, Naomi rolled over and Nefertiti moved out of harm's way.

"No. It's not over." Naomi said but she spoke more to herself than anyone else. "Toni. Kat. Torah. Tiky. Kierra. J-Dymez... they're counting on me..." She breathed as she sat up onto her knees then pointed a stead finger in Jay-Yu's direction. "NEFERTITI! LUNAR GROWL ATTACK!"

The purple fox howled, almost like a wolf as the battle arena lit up like the night sky. Nefertiti took a stance and opened her large canine jaws. A beam of light formed at the opening of her mouth as Naomi forced herself up onto her feet again.

There was a circular ball of light now in front of Nefertiti's jaws and Naomi went speeding around the dish towards Jay-Yu in a tackle-like attack. She was going to body slam him with all her force and as she did this sent out the large ball of light that had flew through the air.

As it did, its form was in the shape of a crescent moon. The blade like light went cutting through the air towards Jay-Yu's Tactic blade.

Jay-Yu seemed frozen, unable to comprehend just how Naomi managed to get up onto her feet but she was drawing closer. There was a bright flash of light just before Nefertiti's attack hit the coyote so everyone shielded their eyes.

Once the light went away the crowd was in an uproar again. Naomi had body chucked Jay-Yu but not enough to knock him off balance. He held her back in defence and the two tried to force each other over.

Nefertiti and Tactic kept grinding and grinding into one another so hard that sparks flew again and the dish began to crack from the pressure.

Jay-Yu grit his teeth as he tried forcing Naomi down but her centre of gravity was so low that it was making it hard for him. He didn't think someone as small as Naomi in the weight sense could be so solid.

"THAT A GIRL NAOMI!" Kat roared as she and the rest of the Sweet and Sour Candies threw up their arms in cheers. Torah began fist pumping with Toni trying to give the doe eyed female the emotional strength to finish the battle.

"You can do it sis!" Torah yelled fist pumping harder. Pain shot up her arm but she didn't care, she was too busy cheering her sister on.

Naomi groaned and pushed, trying to force Jay-Yu off his feet but the male just wouldn't budge. She looked up for an opening and saw none but he definitely saw one to knock her out of the struggle. Jay-Yu smirked down at Naomi.

"Sorry..." He said before kicked at one of her legs and knocking her down. Jay-Yu brought his hand back up and smacked Naomi away before sending Tactic out to finish the job.

The Coyote charged at the Fox again and that was the end of the battle as the all black beyblade crashed into the purple and silver one, knocking it clean out of the dish.

Itashounen: 1 and S.a.S.C: 1.

The last match would have to be the one to determine the status of the Sweet and Sour Candies's position in the Underground Beyblading Tournament.

It wasn't long before Jay-Yu was declared the winner and walked off to allow time for the next battle to be set up. Torah and the other girls came running onto the battle arena just as the medics went to collect Naomi.

They were in the process of picking her up when Torah and Tiky bumped the two out of their way and brought Naomi to stand up instead.

"Oh Naomi..." Torah breathed as she looked at her sister with sadness. Naomi's eyes were half lidded and her head was bleeding a little bit. Torah hugged her elder sister and Tiky helped her walk the chocolate skinned female back to their team bench to get medical attention.

As they walked Naomi looked at Kat and Toni sheepishly.

"I didn't win..." she said sadly but Toni and Kat forced smiles.

"But you did good anyway..." Toni said as she watched the others go back to the bench, she then turned to Kat, "You're up..."

Kat nodded then looked towards her opponent with narrowed fiery eyes. "He's going down..."

Death Match: D.J. Yoshida Versus Kat James!


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Max and Ray had been running all over the place until they finally found Lala again, who was in the process of writing up a report of the new boxes of beyblade parts they had just received. They ran up to the short girl and asked for her to bring them down to the battle area.

Lala looked up from her clipboard and frowned.

"I can't..." She informed, "No one but the teams and medics are allowed down there. You're gonna have to wait for the last battle to be over..."

"What!?" Both Max and Ray exclaimed with annoyance.

"We can't wait that long! I need to see if Torah's okay!"

Lala merely shook her head, "I can't bring you there. No one's allowed to go out until it's done... I heard about Torah's match and she's fine. Kat's battling now." Not wanting to stray from her task any longer than she needed too Lala went back to marking away at her clip board but Max grabbed it from her hand and handed it to Ray who kept it out of her reach.

"Lala, listen, I know no one's allowed out there but can't you do something to help!?" Max pleaded and Lala wanted nothing more to help but she again stated that there was no way for either of them to get out onto the battling area until Kat's match was over and a winner was declared.

Ray paused and quirked an eyebrow, "They're already on the last match!?"

Lala nodded and tried to swipe at her clipboard to retrieve it but Ray just switched it over to his other hand.

"Who battled in the second one?"

Lala jumped at the clipboard and answered that Naomi's had been one of the opponents of the second battle. Both Ray and Max exchanged glances.

"Is she okay!?" Ray asked, urging Lala to answer and this question finally made the green eyed female stop hopping up for her clipboard.

She gave Ray a serious look before turning to look down at the boxes, "I don't know. I didn't hear about it yet... all I know is that she lost..."

The two blade breakers froze as they looked at each other again then back at Lala. Ray finally returned her clipboard to her and she looked at them with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry..." she said. She wished that she could help but there was nothing she could do until after Kat's match was finished. She promised to take the boys straight to the girls after the match was over and they nodded.

Lala told them to head back to their luxury seating but the blonde and the Chinese male admitted that they didn't know the way back and Lala had to lead them. She sighed and agreed with a warm smile but they both could see the worry in their eyes.

Ray's stomach flipped as he mulled this all over in his head. At least Torah was okay but now he had no idea what Naomi's condition was after her match. Kat was in the process of battling and not one of them could see the girls until after it was finished.

Not to mention they had left Tyson along for a fairly long time and they still had no idea where Hiro had run off too. Ray ran his fingers through his long bangs as he followed behind Lala and Max. He sighed and said to himself that he should've stayed at the dojo but he was lying. He was glad he came or else he'd had to hear about all this from Hiro, Max and Tyson... if they ever got around to telling him that is.

The cat-like male and his blonde teammate followed the Australian and Japanese female back down one of the hallways they had journeyed through and as they turned a corner they bumped into J-Dymez and Hiro.

"Busted..." Max mumbled as he and Ray pulled back.

Hiro sent the two looks of astonishment before looking at them with rage. "What the hell are you two doing down here!? Where the hell is Tyson!?"

"We left him in the luxury box. We were heading back now." Ray stated in order to defend both himself and Max.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the box?"

"Yes." Ray nodded, "But Max was worried about Torah. She took a serious beating during her battle."

J-Dymez flinched slightly as her maroon coloured eyes eyed the two younger Blade breakers and Lala. She stated that Torah was fine and that she suffered minor injuries. She also stated that they'd have to go to the hospital just in case then she turned away.

"Just heard about Naomi though. She passed out and Torah and Kierra are with her but that's all I know. It doesn't sound like she's doing well..."

Max said nothing and Ray looked away, biting his lip.

"Can we see them?" Max asked and J-Dymez shook her head.

"Team members only. After Kat's match then you can see them. Hopefully they're all conscious by the time you get there."

Her words didn't help to make either of them feel any better. Max, Ray and Hiro all exchanged glances before Lala urged them all on again. She stated that she had work to do and Hiro and J-Dymez said the same thing. The elder coaches took off and Ray asked where they were headed but Hiro said he'd return and tell them about it later and that now wasn't the time.

Ray, although he was anxious to know, didn't even bother to say anything else. He felt sick and was fully beginning to understand just how on edge Max had been in not knowing how Torah was doing. He walked with the other two back to the luxury box and Ray felt his stomach turn.

He furrowed his eyebrows. He was really beginning to worry.

There was a prolonged silence as Lala led them back to where they needed to be.

* * *

><p>Kat stumbled back and held her ground as dust and hints of flying metal sparks and debris came towards her. She used her arms as shields and through the smog she felt D.J.'s dark red beyblade beat against her black and cobalt beyblade, trying to break through her defence.<p>

It had been a good thing she had held up her arms to shield her eyes because if she hadn't D.J.'s attack would've caught her off guard and she would've suffered an intense blow.

Kat gritted her teeth as she tried forcing the pressure away but as the smoke cleared, D.J. came out of no where and charged at Kat unexpectedly. With wide eyes the stony blader was sent flying back as D.J. kicked her in the stomach.

A dirty blow and a rotten move.

She flipped head over heels and heels over head until finally coming to land on her feet in a crouching position, she slid back like this and looked up to see where D.J. was now. All the smoke had cleared ad she could see that he was a fair distance away.

"You cheap fuck..." She commented before getting back up on her feet.

Kat looked at the dish. Her beyblade was still standing and spinning and both she and D.J.'s beyblades were facing one another but the dish was cracked and that served problematic. If they kept battling in the dish, one of their blades could easily get stuck in the crack and they'd lose.

Kat paused to think. Maybe if she manoeuvred this all properly, she'd be able to use the crack to her advantage.

D.J. wasn't a tactical thinker like Jay-Yu was and that told her she had the upper hand. Not to mention she had Tiky's great strategical skills on her side.

"I'm about to knock you into another universe for this you disgusting little piece of dog vomit!" Kat spat as she walked to towards the disk. Steadily, Kat's beyblade began to rotate towards D.J.'s and he ran back to put more distance between them.

At this Kat smirked, at least D.J. knew she was not one to be messed with.

"You're a big ass son of a bitch. You know that D.J.? I'm going to have SO much fun burying you!" Both Kat and D.J. began circling the dish with their blades. They kept their eyes out for the crack spreading along the radius but only looked up to glare at each other.

"You think this is just a regular match with high steaks? Kat. please!" D.J. spat, "There's so much more on this game then you can image."

"Oh really?" Kat asked sarcastically, "Want to enlighten me, oh great dumbass?"

D.J. sneered at her snarky comment but a smirk soon formed on his lips as he stopped circling, which in turn got Kat to stop circling unconsciously. "That's gonna have to wait!" He yelled as he ran at her suddenly from the left.

Kat was on alert but she hadn't really expected him to just charge at her. She was expecting an attack like that, and D.J. must've known that. He was dumber than she thought.

D.J.'s red blade charged at Kat's black and cobalt one and she hot stepped to dodge but as Kat looked into the dish she noticed that her blade was too close to the crack and if she moved any further the match would be over for her.

She didn't have enough time to jump back or anything of that sort so she had to just take D.J.'s blow. He charged into her and his red blade rammed a heated path into Kat's offensive styled beyblade. D.J.'s clipped Kat's blade and knocked slightly off balance but at the cost of almost sending them both into the crack.

D.J. tumbled back to get away as Kat tripped over her own feet but did a cartwheel in order to stop herself from falling.

Again,the two master and their beyblades began to circle the dish.

"Oh... that was low D.J. You piece of scum!"

D.J. merely shrugged, "Win at all cost. It's what you guys do so I thought you'd get what I'm tryna do here."

Kat smirked, "Oh I do-" Before continuing on with her sentence Kat ran at D.J. and he half expected her to come back with a tackle but instead she did another cartwheel and brought her heel's down towards D.J.'s head.

He was almost hit the first time but the second foot hit him in the shoulder and D.J. was forced to retreat.

Kat's blade went sailing into D.J.'s first towards the right, a miss but it went crashing into his from it's left and the two blades ground into each other then pulled back just as Kat stood upright again.

"But you're not taking this away from us. We worked hard for all this and I don't care what you say but I'm about to lay a beat down on you so hard that you'll shit your pants!"

D.J. snorted, "Bring it."

The two competitors went charging at one another. Kat and D.J. both let out a battle cry as their blades followed suit and went careening into each other. Sparks flew and with each grind a gash formed on D.J. and Kat's skin.

Kat got clipped just below her eye and she felt a droplet of blood dripped down her face but she wasn't backing down for anything.

They tried breaking through each other's line of defence but all it did was send the two beyblades into a spin of tug-o-war like behaviour.

D.J. and Kat grit their teeth together as more gashes formed on her skin. Like Naomi, Kat outfit was beginning to stain with blood.

"Give up! You won't win. Our bit beast are twice as strong as yours!" D.J. taunted, using immense upper body strength to throw at Kat. She was able to keep him at bay but she wavered slightly.

"Don't count your battles before they're won. The scores tied and I'm about to win it!" Kat quickly glanced down and saw and opening that would leave both she and D.J. in a compromised state but she took it anyway.

Kat kicked her leg but D.J. moved. That wasn't the last of her attack since Kat brought her leg back and hooked it with the back of D.J.'s knee, sending them both of them down to the metal floor.

The crowd roared as Kat's black and cobalt beyblade broke away from the bey tackle, flew past D.J.'s dark red blade then came back to knock it in the other direction.

"YES!" Toni exclaimed as she threw her hands up, "That's my girl Kat!"

Kat felt herself glow with pride as she and D.J. went down but she was quickest to react. Their shoulders collided with the metal floor but Kat was up first and on top of D.J. in seconds to punch at his chest and face.

D.J. took a few blows and so did his beyblade. Again and again, Kat's beyblade pounded at D.J.'s until he finally managed to flip her off of him. Kat rolled on the ground and was about to get up but D.J. came and kicked her in the face, sending her flying back again.

"You bitch!" He spat. Blood came from his nose and mouth and he spat at the ground.

His beyblade charged towards Kat's again and knocked back, it was about to serve another attack as D.J. ran to catch up with Kat to kick her again but she rolled out of the way and D.J. missed.

The black and cobalt blue blade spun out of the way and Kat exhaled heavily. That had been a close one.

Before D.J. could turn around and attack again. Kat threw herself to the floor and used her leg to prevent him from getting any closer. It was effective and this gave Kat enough time to use her other foot to kick at D.J.'s legs.

D.J. came crashing down and his beyblade suffered a serious blow after Kat's had stopped it's attack and rammed into it.

Kat rolled out of the way as D.J. fell but as she was about move again, D.J. grabbed Kat by the hair and pulled it. Kat sworn and tried fighting back but D.J. got a hold on her and trapped one of Kat's arms.

"ATTACK PANIC!" D.J. ordered calling his bit beast out. A very dark and metallic red, two headed snake came snapping out of D.J.'s blade with a loud hiss and a flash of eerie dark light. The bit beast known as Panic looked down towards Kat's blade and went in for the kill.

Kat saw this and stared wide eyed at it. She'd never seen a beast like that and it actually scared her.

"NEPHTHYS!" Kat called and her bit beast came as well.

A sabre-toothed jungle cat wearing shiny cobalt armour came out of Kat's beyblade with what was known to be a jungle cat's roar. It echoed in the stadium and the crowd went wild as D.J.'s Panic and Kat's Nephthys went to strike each other.

The two headed snake beast hissed and went in for a strike but Nephthys pulled back and roared before swiping a mighty claw at it.

The two beast went for each other again and Panic was about to wrap around the sabre-tooth cat but in turn, Nephthys bit into Panic's flesh. The two headed snake hissed and D.J. groaned as he felt the feeling of teeth digging into his arm.

It had been the same arm that was holding Kat back and once it was free from D.J.'s grasp she brought her arm up and elbowed D.J. in the side of the head. This made it possible for Kat to free herself and the two beyblades pulled away along with the bit beast.

Kat wiped the blood from her face and took a fighter's stance, "I'm about to kick the shit right out of you." She warned before charging at D.J.

He had only just gotten to his feet when Kat came and punched him in the jaw. Knocking him over to his right.

Nephthys came charging at Panic and knocked the blade towards it's left and it began teetering on the edge of the crack in the bey dish.

Kat went for another blow to the face but D.J. caught it and twisted her arm before pulling Kat into him so that he could return the favour and smack her.

The beyblades crashed into each other and now bother were teetering on the edge. Both D.J. and Kat felt like they were going to fall off balance but they held their ground as they went back to trying to breath through each other's defences, football style.

Kat pushed forward with Nephthys then D.J. pushed forward with his Panic beyblade. They grit their teeth as more and more gashes, cuts and bruises formed on their skin.  
>Back at the team benches, Tiky and Toni held their breath. From what they could see, it could be anyone's game. One wrong move and one or both blades could've slipped into the crack, ending the match.<p>

Tiky kept her fingers crossed while Toni watched with intent, biting her lip and almost drawing blood.

Kat grunted as she tried forcing Nephthys forward but her eyes suddenly went wide with realization. D.J. thought Kat had finally saw that it was the end of the line for both her and her team so he smirked and thought of something snarky to say but Kat began to smirk as well and it threw him off.

"Path to Nothing..." Kat said.

The battle area shook as an extreme gust of wind began forming over the beydish. The wind was so great that D.J. and Kat began to teetering from side to side but it wasn't long before the whole place grew dark. A large Black shape formed over the dish and an intense current began sucking everything in.

The debris from D.J.'s first attack went flying into the hole and D.J.'s stomach jumped into his throat as he saw his bit beast turn to look at he black hole. His beyblade wobbled and it wasn't long before it went flying through the air towards the black hole.

"Kiss your blade goodbye..." Kat said then Nephthys let out a loud roar.

D.J. tried to back to give himself time to save his blade but Kat latched onto him tightly not allowing him to run away. Her bit beast roared again and rammed into D.J.'s two headed snake, sending it into the black swirling abyss.

There was a loud noise, sort of like an explosion that sent both Kat and D.J. flying away from the bey dish. There was a bright flash of light and as they landed, Kat and D.J. broke apart and tumbled along the ground.

Kat once again tumbled head over heels and heels over head before falling onto her back and coming to a stop. It took a moment for the smog to clear as she saw her Nephthys blade wobbling and fall to the floor as it stopped spinning but not before she looked at saw D.J.'s blade lying in the wreckage of the bey dish.

She allowed a big smirked to spread across her face as the crowd stood up and cheered along with her currently present team. D.J. looked at his blade and punched at the ground before turning to look at Kat with hate.

The black haired beauty got back up onto her feet, pressed her palms together and bowed, "And that my dear asshopper..." she used the word asshopper instead of grasshopper, "Is how you beyblade!"

D.J. growled as Kat went over to retrieve her beyblade and held it up for the crowd to see. Louder and louder they cheered as the announced called Kat's name and announced the Sweet and Sour Candies to be the winner.

Kat brought her arm down to look at her beyblade. he attack ring was badly damaged but she didn't mind. "Guess all those parts are gonna come in handy pretty damn quick, huh Nephthys?" She smiled warmly down at her blade before suddenly being over come with weakness and falling to the floor.

She had fallen unconscious but Kat went down with a smile.

* * *

><p>J-Dymez and Hiro sat silently in the change room with Toni, Torah, Tiky and Kierra who were all cheering insanely. Although two of their team members were currently out cold they couldn't help but celebrate their victory over what appeared to be their fiercest battle yet.<p>

Torah began to pelvic thrust as she and Kierra began chanting; "We Won."

Tiky and Toni busted out moves of their own and a smile couldn't help but reach their lips. Although she and Hiro had been all over the place trying to figure things out, she couldn't help but be proud of her team. She had missed almost eighty percent of her teams battle today but she knew they had won and fought hard for their victory.

"Boo Ya!" Tiky cheered before giving Toni a high five.

At this Hiro smiled and shook his head. He was happy the girls had won.

It wasn't long before there was a knock at the door and Lala peered in.

"Look whose here!" Lala smiled as she stepped back and revealed the three Blade breakers that had followed the group of girls to the stadium. J-dymez froze and this told Hiro that she didn't know they were going to be here.

He looked around. The other girls all wore looks of astonishment as the three males walked in and Hiro knew that they hadn't been invited. He looked towards his little brother and knew he had something to do with all this but Tyson was too busy beaming and ran over to congratulate the girls.

Tyson spoke a mile a minute as he sung words of praise and spoke highlights of each match that he absolutely loved. He talked about Torah's bridge flip and she blushed. He talked about Naomi's flying spin kick and Kat's incredible punches and attack.

He was glad Kat wasn't in the room since he felt awkward for complimenting her. He and Kat weren't on the best of terms but he respected her skills that was certain. Tyson then turned to Toni and pulled her in to passionately kiss her.

"Damn..." Tiky said as she backed away from the couple slightly, "Didn't know he loved battles THAT much," she pointed towards the couple as Kierra and Torah stood up.

They laughed and it wasn't long before Max and Ray made their way over to them.

"You did great!" Max said to Torah. Although he had missed the last half of her battle he knew that it had been filled with intense strength and energy. Max did the same as Tyson by pulling Torah in but he was much gentler since she was injured.

The blonde pressed his lips to hers and Torah became swept up and wrapped her arms around Max's neck.

Tiky, Kierra and Ray stared at the two couples exchanging affection and turned away to give them a little privacy. Kierra folded her arms before puffing out her cheeks.

"Aww! I want to make out with someone..." She soon turned to look towards Tiky and Ray, "...Nevermind. If you guys are my only options I'll wait."

"Hey!" Tiky laughed as she smacked Kierra in the arm, "You'd totally make out with me, I know it!"

Ray allowed a smile to appear but that was it. He didn't speak since he was too busy with worrying. He turned away to walk over to the seating benches as J-Dymez looked up at Lala and asked how Naomi and Kat were doing.

Lala waved away the question but answered anyway, "They're fine. They may have to go to the hospital but Kat's on her way back down here. That crazy girl just woke up and is all ready all over the place."

J-Dymez shook her head. That was Kat for you. She was never really someone you could tie down.  
>As if on cue Kat came through the door with an a couple of unexpected visitors on her arms. One was Naomi and the other was Garland.<p>

"NAOMI!" Torah exclaimed as she ran with Max over to her sister. The seventeen year old and sixteen year old took hold of the Jamaican and Bajan mix as Kat used Garland to walk her deeper into the change room.

"Garland?" Hiro questioned as he looked at his friend. Garland gestured towards Hiro in a form of greeting and gave him a low five.

"Hey Hiro..." He smiled.

J-Dymez and Hiro both turned to Kat and shrugged as she looked up at Garland.

"He helped me walk Naomi back." She said before Garland turned to her and kissed her forehead. J-Dymez almost had a heart attack as she saw Kat send him a genuine smile.

"You did great." Garland complimented before pulling Kat in to nuzzle her bruised face a little bit. Kat shrugged again.

"It's what I do..."

Ray had removed himself from his seat and walked over to Max, Torah and Naomi and sheepishly asked if the chocolate skinned female was alright. Naomi blushed but nodded and said that she was and Ray exhaled with relief.

Max and Torah looked from Naomi to Ray, and back again a couple of times before Torah silently offered her sister to Ray and trotted off with Max. The golden eyed boy took hold of Naomi as she stumbled forward and nearly bumped into him.

Their faces had only been half an inch away from one another before they both began to blush and turn away awkwardly.

"Sorry!" they said in unison. They turned back to look at each other then began to chuckle.

"So... you're okay?" Ray questioned again then received a nod from Naomi, who's whole face began to heat up with a blush. Ray smiled before leading Naomi back so that she could sit. "I'm glad your okay..."

The Sweet and Sour Candies change room was filled with happy chit-chat but it didn't take long before Toni suddenly turned to look around at Tyson, Max and Ray.

"What the flying fuck are you three doing here!?" she snapped as she looked each Blade breaker in the face. "I knew about Hiro and Garland, but just what the hell are you three doing here!? Naomi! You didn't invite them did you!?"

Naomi quickly shook her head, "N-No! I didn't, I swear."

Toni then sent an accusing glare to Torah who shook her head. Tiky and Kierra followed and they swore that they hadn't invited them. Getting annoyed with Toni, Tyson came clean and admitted that he and the boys had followed them here and that Toni should've been happy to see him since he came to cheer her team on.

Of course Toni didn't like Tyson's tone and the two of them broke out into an argument.

"Here they go..." Ray remarked rolling his eyes. Naomi didn't say anything since she was too busy trying to focus on something else. Ray had sat her in his lap and was being very nonchalant about it but it was causing Naomi's heart to race.  
>"I can't believe you followed us here you stalker! I said I'd tell you what you needed to know when you needed to know it!" Toni barked as she placed her hands on her hips.<p>

"Oh!" Tyson said, coming back with his rebuttal, "And not telling me about you and your team being the coolest all girl beyblading team wasn't something I should know!? Bullshit!"

"Ass!"

"Liar!"

"Annoying dog!"

"Secretive bitch!"

The two stared daggers at each other for what seemed like a very long time. So long that it even made Kat uncomfortable. Without warning, Toni and Tyson went at each other again but not in the way everyone else had expected. Toni had grabbed Tyson's face and forcefully pressed her lips to hers while he pulled her close to him to deepen their kiss.

"I hate you." Toni snorted as she quickly pulled away from Tyson but went back to kiss him again.

"...Okay, can someone pull them off each other before they start making babies on the floor? I just had someone mop up in here!" Lala laughed before stating that she had to leave and trotted out.

"Okay you two!" J-Dymez said as she pulled the couple apart, "Do that on your own time..."

Toni and Tyson looked towards the Jamaican coach slightly embarrassed but they smirked as soon as they glanced at one another.

"Okay. I shoulda told you. But you gotta understand that I don't like letting people know everything about my life..." Toni said and Tyson nodded. He knew. Boy, did he know.

"So... does this mean we can tell the Blade breakers everything...?" Tiky questioned as she and Kierra looked around the room.

There was a long pause before Toni, Kat and J-Dymez finally shrugged. Most of the team knew now, might as well add the rest of them into the equation.

Tiky and the other girls jumped up and squealed and Kat flinched at the sound. Her head was killing her and her team's squealing didn't help. Noticing her discomfort, Garland laughed and kissed her temple.

He didn't even have to speak for her to understand him. Kat rested her head on Garland's shoulder then looked up at him. The two shared a silent conversation before Kat smirked and tugged at Garland's collar, bringing him down to kiss her.

* * *

><p>That was the end of their night and now it was time for the Sweet and Sour Candies as well as their boyfriends and neighbours to head home. They helped a few of the girls to the elevator and Toni growled as she saw D.J. and his group coming down the hallway.<p>

Max and Tyson glared. Ray narrowed his cat-like eyes at them and J-Dymez sneered.

"Da fuck you want!?" the twenty-one year old female snapped and D.J. was about to snap back but Jay-Yu rose his hand and told D.J. to keep calm.

D.J. snorted and spat on the ground but instead of speaking he let Jay-Yu speak. The boy with the spiked black hair and dark eyes had his arm in a sling but in his good arm he turned to Mike who gave him a briefcase.

Jay-Yu handed the briefcase over to J-Dymez but it was Kierra who took it.

"These are you winnings as well as a a little something extra." Jay-Yu turned to look back at his group and one of the other boys, whose name none of the girl's knew stepped forwards and offered another briefcase.

Tiky and Kierra were all ready in the process of opening the first one but they looked at the second one with confusion. J-Dymez cocked an angry eyebrow.

"And what the fuck is that?" she asked, gesturing towards the case. Jay-Yu ordered for the boy to open it and the Sweet and Sour Candies's eyes went wide as they saw what was inside. It was money, all in cash. "What's this about?"

Jay-Yu told the boy to close the case and hand it to them before continuing his explanation, "You won the battle today and the Chairman would like it if you joined the team."

"What team?" Toni asked with suspicion.

"Our team baby," Travis answered with his devil smirked. This earned him a glare from Tyson.

Jay-Yu nodded, "He would greatly appreciate you being part of the team. You draw in a big crowd and these are just twenty percent of the profits made on bets towards your team..."

"T-That's just twenty percent!?" Tiky exclaimed as she held the briefcase full of money in her hand. It was quite heavy. Jay-Yu and a few of the other boys nodded.

"So all this was a set up? A publicity stunt and a ploy to get us to join your fucked up band of idiots?!" J-Dymez inquired with annoyance.

"I wouldn't say it like that but... yes..." Jay-Yu answered.

The twenty-one year old Jamaican sneered as she took the money filled case from Tiky and tossed it back towards the boy's group, since he couldn't catch it, Jay-Yu stepped aside and allowed Travis to catch it instead.

"Keep your money. We're not joining you."

The group of males laughed as Travis handed it back to Tiky.

"Chairman says to keep it and think about his offer," D.J. announced as he folded his arms, "He says that there's plenty more where that came from..."

J-Dymez rolled her maroon eyes and stated again that she and the rest of the Sweet and Sour Candies wouldn't be joining their team and this earned her a shrug from D.J. he merely told them that the offer still stood and that the Chairman would be more than pleased if they joined. That's when they all turned to walk about but before they left D.J. looked at the girls.

"Congrads on getting into the U.B.T by the way." With that, he turned away chuckling and walked off.

Toni fought to break through the group so that she could run at D.J. and choke him but the elevator arrived and she allowed the ones that had fought in today's battle along with their accompanied males to pile in.

"We'll catch the next one." J-Dymez said as she sent them up. Kat and the other girls nodded then the doors closed.

J-Dymez looked towards Hiro and they two shared a silent understanding. A few of their questioned had been answered like why D.J. and his group were battling them but now instead of being filled with questions, they seemed to be filled with worry.

"Damn," Tyson said, suddenly capturing everyone's attention, "That's a lot of cash..."

A few of the others nodded at the navy haired champion's statement but they soon began looking at one another. They all turned to J-Dymez who just shrugged them off.

"Fine. If he wants us to keep it, we'll keep it but we're not joining..." She soon looked to Hiro. He didn't seem pleased about them keeping the money but he didn't protest against it either. J-Dymez turned back to look at Kierra and said that she needed to get to work on repairing the girl's beyblades so that they could start training.

Kierra nodded and was about to speak but Tyson cut in with what seemed like a brilliant idea.

"Hey! Let us help you out!"

"...Excuse me?"

"Yeah!" Tyson nodded as he looked at Hiro then at the other girls. "We'll help you train! We're professional athletes! Might as well take lessons from guys that know about the business."

"Take lessons?" Toni cocked a brow and sent a stony glare Tyson's way.

He shivered from the glance but held his hands up and declared that he didn't mean any harm and that all he meant was that he and his team wanted to help. Hiro knew this was going to happen but he also knew just how proud Toni and J-Dymez were.

It didn't take long for them to turn down Tyson's offer but the Flau red eyed male didn't back down either. He bantered with the two females about it until the argument escalated into loud yelling. Hiro cringed since they were all heading into the empty elevator now and he was getting anxious from being stuck with them all in such an enclosed space.

"We don't need your help Tyson. We made it this far without you. What makes you think we need you boys now!?" Toni spat and Tyson glared down at her.

"Why do you always have to be so stubborn!? We just want to help! Besides, have you ever stopped to think that maybe there are a few things you need to work on?"

J-Dymez instantly turned to Tyson and demanded to know what he meant by that. Again, the navy haired male stated that he meant no harm but Toni and J-Dymez kept staring at him with daggers in their eyes. Tyson quickly explained that there were a few rough patches in the girl's fighting styles and that there were easy ways to improve this.

J-Dymez and Toni barked back at the same time stating that Tyson was wrong but Hiro intervened and stated that Tyson really didn't mean any harm and that he just failed to properly communicate his point, which was true.

Tyson hadn't intended on offending anyone, all he wanted was to help and Hiro explained that. Of course Toni and J-Dymez said no again but Tiky and Kierra soon had something to say.

"You may not want his help but what about others. Maybe, Kat wants some help or Torah?" Tiky started.

"Naomi wouldn't mind getting help if Ray taught her," Kierra chirped in as she jokingly nudged Tiky and the two laughed.

"See!" Tyson pointed. They had finally reached the floor they were supposed to be on and once the doors opened they headed out and met up with the rest of the group. "Stop being so stubborn!"

"Stop being so pushy!" Toni shot back as the others eyebrows rose.

"What are you two fighting about now?" Torah sighed as she placed a hand on her hip.

Toni and Tyson stumbled over one another to state that Tyson had offered to help train the team but Toni's version sounded like Tyson was being pushy and forceful while Tyson stated that he was merely suggesting it and Toni was being more than rude in shutting his suggestion down.

Again, the two barked and argued with each other until Kat snapped and told them both to put a sock in it.

"Thanks but no thanks Tyson. We can handle ourselves." Kat stated and Tyson rolled his eyes.

"You would say no." He said accusingly and Kat flipped him her middle finger. Tyson turned to Torah and Naomi with puppy dog eyes and asked them if they would like to train with him and the rest of the Blade breakers.

Naomi and Torah turned to look at Ray and Max who smiled. They were more than happy to offer their help but as they looked towards Toni and J-Dymez, who wore hardened expressions made them pause.

"Uh... Torah's not here right now, leave a message after the beep!" Torah said before actually beeping then turning away to escape Toni and J-Dymez's heated gazes.

"Stop staring at them like that!" Tyson snapped as he and Toni began arguing again.

Naomi stood perfectly still as she and J-Dymez looked at each other but soon the lavender eyed female grew tense and motioned to stand behind Ray in an attempt to shield herself.

"I-I w-wouldn't mind..." She said and Max and Ray began beaming.

Toni and Tyson continued arguing while J-Dymez rolled her eyes then stared at the Jackson-DuBois sisters.

"Do you seriously want their help?"

Torah and Naomi nodded at the same time.

"It wouldn't be so bad... I mean... they're professionals right?" Naomi squeaked.

Silence fell over the group, other than from Tyson and Toni who were still quarrelling. For what seemed like a very long time, J-Dymez said nothing but with a loud and aggravated sigh she threw a hand up then brought it down to run it through her hair.

"Fine. You can help!" she then turned to Hiro, "But don't you dare try and take over my team. You guys can help but you teach them what best suits their style. If I catch any of you going against what I built I'll hit you all so hard you'll switch hair colours!"

Hiro and the other boys began laughing but the blue haired coach and his Jamaican partner shook hands before saying that they had a deal.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Kai wasn't at all sure how asking a simple question would result in a verbal information waterfall but it did.

All the slate haired captain had asked was why his teammates had been so chipper this morning and it erupted into a very loud and enthusiastic recap of their adventure both he and Daichi had missed last night.

Kai had walked into the kitchen to see everyone that lived in the dojo acting slightly out of character. Although there was breakfast on the table and on his plate, Tyson wasn't wolfing down his food. He was too busy staring down into it, smiling for no apparent reason. What surprised Kai even more was that Tyson seemed deep in thought.

Max was off in his own little world as well. Texting rapidly and also smiling like there was no tomorrow. Ray and Hiro also seemed particularly happy and that's when Kai's question came out.

"Why the hell are you all in such a good mood?"

Before Kai could even sit down everything he had missed from last night came out. Tyson and Max were the first to start talking but before long, both Ray and Hiro jumped in to add little pieces of information the two may have missed or highlights of battles that they enjoyed the most.

Kai cocked an eyebrow as he tried filtering everything he was being told so that it could all make sense. He grasped everything from the neighbours being underground beybladers to some secret meeting of underground beybladers in the old stadium across town.

As he continued to listen Kai became more intrigued but didn't ask any questions because he thought that probably wasn't the best idea since asking would probably just confuse everyone more. They were all trying to say too many things at once so it was already confusing and he didn't want to add on to this confusion.

Tyson, being the only one to have seen every one of the S.a.S.C. beybladers blade had much to say about their battle styling and athletic technique. He talked about what he liked and what they all could improve on, then - what seemed to be the most important piece of information - came out.

The navy haired champion began to explain to Kai that he as well as the others had made a training alliance with the all girls team next door and then stated that they were doing all this so that the Sweet and Sour Candies could make it to the final round of the Underground Beyblading Tournament with professional training under their belts.

There was a moment of silence before Kai responded and it seemed to shock everyone.

The half Russian agreed to the Blade breakers - Sweet and Sour Candies Training Alliance then retrieved himself a plate, some eating utensils and a glass to pour his orange juice in.

At first the team seemed dumbfounded by Kai's willingness but they celebrated anyway by giving each other high fives.

In all honesty, Kai was actually looking forward to this so called Training Alliance. For one thing, he had seen Toni battle Tyson once and was curious about how the other girls battled - From what he heard, they were very skilled bladers but he wanted to see it all for himself - Also... He had nothing better to do and it had been awhile since he'd stepped to a beydish with Dranzer, ready to tear down the competition.

He paused to correct himself. He wouldn't tear the girls down, since it was a training alliance after all but when the time came he'd go all out and battle them like how he did with any other opponent.

It didn't take long before the group of boys decided to head over to the neighbours for a visit. -

Over the past few days the Blade breakers had been over at the Sweet and Sour Candies's household trying their best to figure out ways to get their training plan off the ground.

There were a few obstacles and for some reason, none of them seemed to know how to get around them. A handful of the large group chalked up their poor decision-making to the heat but nothing seemed to change when they relocated to the cool indoors.

They were sitting out on the Candies's backyard veranda today and luckily it wasn't as hot and humid outside as it had been a few days prior.

They were on a break and a few of the combined group members had gone inside for a snack while Tiky, Kierra and a few others continued working outside.

"UGH!" The European female grumbled as she finally gave up with what she was doing, tossed everything around and began grabbing at her hat and hair. She tore the bohemian hat from her skull then dashed it somewhere to her right before running her fingers through her brown and blonde hair in complete frustration. "This isn't working!" Tiky grumbled then fell backwards onto the wooden veranda floor.

"I know!" Kierra piped in as she tossed a few papers around as well and began sulking as she pulled out a compact mirror from her pocket. The pretty Trinidadian and Jamaican girl looked at her reflection but soon began examining her eyes, "I'm getting wrinkles from the stress!" She continued to gripe as she snapped the little pink mirror shut.

"Okay you two drama queens, take it easy." Toni said as she looked up from Tyson.

The navy haired boy and taken the time to relax and lie his head down in Toni's lap then allowed her to toy around with his hair after she had removed his hat and put it on herself to wear.

"What's the matter now?" Tyson asked turning to look at the two nymphs but only briefly before Toni began massaging his scalp again. He didn't even care for the answer at the moment since the feeling of Toni's fingers gently running along his head was just too much to ignore.

"None of this is working out!" Tiky answered as she quickly surveyed their working area before picking up a sheet of paper she had tossed not moments ago, "There's too many problems; We have no space to train in,"

"We can't seem to schedule anything properly," Kierra added to the list.

"We don't know who can work with who,"

"We have no idea what we'd need to do to modify the blades so that they'd be enough to stand up against yours without breaking,"

"And most importantly-"

"WE NEED HILARY AND KENNY'S HELP!" The two Candy support girls whined before tossing papers over their shoulders again.

Kai had been staring out at the backyard aimlessly but the mentioning of Hilary's name made him tune in.

Tyson prompted himself up with his elbows and looked towards Kierra and Tiky with a slightly annoyed look. He explained again, for what seemed to be the fourth time that afternoon that neither Hilary nor Kenny was reachable and they were just going to have to make due without them.  
>"But we can't Tyson! We need them!" Kierra gripped as she threw a mini temper tantrum and started banging her fists on the wooden porch. "We need all your stats and previous training schedules so we know what we're working with."<p>

"I don't see why. We're free all day, it's you guys that have the problem."

Tiky frowned as she picked up one of the outdoor throw pillows and tossed it at the blue haired Japanese boy. She had annoyance written all over her face as she folded her arms and stated that it was still necessary.

"It would show us how often you trained and at what peak time. It would help us match our timing with yours!"

Tyson grumbled as the pillow hit him but he tossed it aside, "Sorry to break it to you but Hilary has all our training schedules and Kenny has all our stats! We don't bother with that stuff."

Both Kierra and Tiky mumbled something incoherent but explicit before hopping up on their feet and complaining that their two team merger just wasn't the same with the two brunette members of the Blade breakers missing in action.

Deciding that they needed some snacks of their own, Kierra and Tiky headed inside to grab whatever they could before the others had eaten it all.

Kai couldn't help but agree with the two. The team really did feel incomplete without Kenny and Hilary but he knew he was more biased towards Hilary being there than anything else. Without even having to look at the status information Kenny kept, Kai knew Hilary would know everything about the Blade breakers - especially him - The only thing Hilary wouldn't be able to tell them was anything that had to do with their actual beyblades.

Kenny was their team engineer so all the technical stuff was his specialty.

The slate haired captain sighed to himself as he suddenly grew anxious. Due to the fact that his messenger was bedridden because of her injuries sustained in her beyblade battle a few nights ago, Kai had to keep everything he was feeling locked up in his head and it was beginning to irk his nerves.

He sighed again. This must've been how Hilary felt and he soon began feeling terrible about putting her through so much of an ordeal when he was trying to sort out his new feelings for her.

He had to admit, they did come on rather suddenly and he wasn't sure how to handle it but he felt that as soon as he talked with her and got it out of the way everything would be easier.

Yet again, Kai sighed but this time he ran his fingers through his hair. His head was starting to throb from everything that was jumping around in his brain. Not only was Hilary on his mind but the team training alliance as well as how he was actually going to communicate his feelings to Hilary properly were all bouncing around in there.

Getting up to head inside as well, the half Russian made his way into the air conditioned house and shook his head. He had too many thoughts going at once... He tried concentrating on one thing at a time but that didn't seem to work. With a frustrated grunt, Kai relocated to the living room and threw himself down onto one of the couches.

"Having a rough day?" He heard someone ask and he looked over to where he had heard the voice.

Across the coffee table, on the floor, sat Naomi. Kai hadn't even noticed the West Indian female sitting there but he greeted her and straightened himself up in his seat.

"How are you feeling?" He asked nonchalantly before eyeing her. The first day they had visited the house, both Naomi and Kat looked terrible and badly injured. They were battered, bandaged and bruised but they were looking significantly better now.

The only thing visibly noticeable was the large compression bandage on Naomi's forehead. Everything else was covered.

She shrugged at his question before sheepishly answering, "I'm... doing better..."

Kai nodded before exhaling and running his palms down his face.

"I- I'm sorry about not being able to deliver your message to Hilary..." She suddenly said and Kai looked at her. He shook his head and said that it was fine and that it was more important for her to heal than to be relaying messages but Naomi shook her head, "I promised I would give her the message and I still haven't. I'm sorry..."

Again Kai stated that it was fine but he froze as he heard someone walking in. He relaxed as he soon realized it was Ray and not anyone else.

"Hey," The golden eyed male quickly greeted before turning to look down at Naomi and smiling. He offered her a plate of sweet treats and the chocolate skinned female smiled back and graciously accepted them.

Kai quirked an eyebrow as he continued to watch them interact. Ray sat down beside her and said that it was nothing before gently pulling her into a one arm hug. Over the past few days the two had grown very close and Naomi barely froze when Ray touched her anymore.

She hugged him back and eyed the plate of goods before asking what they were and Ray pointed to each treat and told her. There were two Dango treats, two Ichigo Daifuku and three Nuomici. Again Naomi asked what they were specifically but Ray gave her no definitive answer, instead he just told her to try one.

Of course, Naomi did as Ray requested and tried an Ichigo Daifuku. Her face lit up and she cooed before bringing a hand up to rest on her cheek. She turned to Ray and gushed about how tasty it was and the cat-like male laughed and said that he knew she enjoyed it.

Kai couldn't help but be curious about the proper way of dealing with the opposite sex. He never really had a problem talking with Hilary before but everything was different now and he really didn't know how to go about it.

Ray had brought Naomi sweets and although the two weren't dating or stated that they had any romantic feelings towards one another - a lie in Kai's opinion - He couldn't help but wonder if he should do the same for when he met up with Hilary... whenever that was.

Sure, it wasn't his style but it was evident that he didn't want to just think of himself anymore.

"I brought them for you!" Ray suddenly said, snapping Kai out of his thoughts.

He refocused his Byzantium purple coloured eyes on the couple and noticed their sudden playfulness. Naomi was trying to feed Ray the other half of her Ichigo Daifuku but the Chinese teen just wasn't having it.

"Don't make me hurt you," Ray threatened her in a joking sense and Naomi laughed as she tried forcing the treat into his mouth again. "Woman, I will bite your finger off!" he laughed as he turned his head and kept Naomi about bay.

"Eat it. It's so good!" Naomi exclaimed before giggling again. She tried fighting her way past Ray's defence but he just wasn't allowing her.

"I make them. I know what they taste like!"

"Oh, Just eat it!" Finally Naomi was able to get close enough to press the treat to Ray's lips and finally he caved and took a bite. Ray chewed the treat as he gave Naomi a kittenish look but she just continued to giggle.

"Are you happy now?" Ray asked her as he brought down his arms and Naomi nodded before finishing the treat herself. Ray made a grunting noise before pulling Naomi towards him to poke her in the sides. The lavender eyed female laughed and finished what was in her mouth as quickly as possible before bursting out into a fit of laughter.

Ray's poking soon turned into tickling and Naomi was howling with laughter and trying to fight him off but of course she wasn't able to over her constant fidgeting.

Again, Kai quirked an eyebrow. Was this normal behaviour? He began smirking.

"Just friends? Do most boy-girl friends act like that?" Kai questioned, "If I didn't know any better I'd think you two were dating."

Ray and Naomi had turned to look at Kai as soon as he had begun talking but as the last of his statement came out of his mouth Ray wore a look of slight astonishment before childishly sticking his tongue out at his friend. Naomi blushed and turned away.

"What? I can't have fun with my friend, sour puss?" Ray shot back and Kai shrugged.

"I would call that flirting, but I guess you can saying flirting is 'fun'." The half Russian replied.

Ray snorted before bringing Naomi in really close and nuzzling his cheek against hers, "Alright! You've caught us!" he said dramatically, "We're going to run away together and live on a tiger ranch where we'll breed and ride on giant tigers!"

Both Ray and Kai chuckled but Naomi's face turned beet red.

"Sounds like a plan. Be sure to have lots of little kittens when the two of you get married and name one after me."

Again Ray snorted, "Don't mock our love!"

And again, Kai shrugged but soon began pointing at Naomi who seemed to be looking around for means of escape.

"Don't look now but I think your about to give my messenger a nose bleed,"

"She knows I'm teasing." Ray stated as he turned to look at Naomi, who refused to look at either of them, "Right?"

"R-Right..." Naomi answered as she tumbled over her words and stammered, "I... I'm gonna go see what Torah's up too. Be back in a minute," without another word Naomi stood up and hurried out of the living room.

Both Ray and Kai watched her leave but Kai was the first to turn away as he looked at his friend, still sitting on the floor.

"You know she likes you right?"

Ray looked at him with an expressionless face before smiling, "We're just friends."

Kai rolled his eyes, "I was just friends with Hilary too and look how that's turning out..."

"Unlike you, I know what my feelings are and how to deal with them and believe it or not, Naomi and I are just friends. She doesn't like me, she's just shy."

Kai made a face, "You honestly believe that bullshit you're spewing?"

Ray rolled his eyes, "Have you figured out what you want to say to Hilary when you see her?" The Chinese youth asked, redirecting the conversation towards Kai instead of himself.

Kai could've easily redirected it back but he decided to tell Ray that; no. He indeed hadn't figured out what he was going to say and needed a little bit more help.

"You seem to be fairly smooth. School me, oh great tiger master,"

Once again, Ray rolled his eyes but decided to play along with Kai's game as he folded his legs and clapped his hands together in a very Zen-like pose. "What is it that you are having trouble with, oh smart-mouth?"

Ignoring the smart mouth comment, Kai began to admit just exactly what was going on in his head. He admitted to observing how Naomi and Ray interacted and that - although it wasn't his style - that he considered bringing Hilary something when he met up with her.

Ray nodded, acknowledging Kai's words but he soon shook his head and went back to sitting regularly.

"Don't try to be anyone else but yourself. I understand that your trying to make everything go as smoothly as possible but that just isn't like you. Besides, Hilary enjoys the simple things. I think just seeing you would be enough."

Kai shrugged, "Yeah, I guess, but..." He paused before feeling that all to familiar feeling of having his nerves being irked, "I don't know! I feel like I want to do something. I mean... I put her through hell with all this and I don't think me just admitting to liking her is going to be enough."

This time, Ray shrugged, "We'll never know what goes on in the mind of the other gender but I don't see anything wrong with just meeting her and talking... You could always bring her somewhere special. Of course you'd have to make changes to the message you gave Naomi but giving the meeting a special location could do a lot."

"Somewhere special... Like...?" Kai cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't know. I can't give you all the answers."

"Then what good are you?"

"Well, excuse me for being such a half assed friend,"

"You're excused,"

"Har, har," Ray sarcastically laughed, "Think about it. Think about all the times you've talked to Hilary. Other than the dojo, where are her favourite places to be? Where has she always wanted to go?"

Kai's eyebrows furrowed together as he tried thinking about the questions Ray asked. He really couldn't think of anything and now that he was feeling like he was under pressure the slate haired captain grew frustrated then dashed the idea away before looking sharply at his friend on the floor.

"Why is this so difficult?"

Ray shrugged, "Matters such as these always seem to be when you use your head instead of your heart. Let the heart deal with matters of the heart and let the head deal with matters of the head."

"Wow... did you get that from a fortune cookie?"

"... I'm done talking to you." Ray stated as he got up onto his feet then headed for the living room exit but just before leaving he turned to Kai and said, "I actually got it from one of the magazine's Hilary left at the dojo. That things is a romantic gold mine. Not that I'm hinting at anything. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, read it." With that he left the room. -

When the Blade breakers and Sweet and Sour Candies did recollect for another stab at coming up with a definitive plan they once again grew tired and irksome towards the obstacles in their way.

"We don't have much time." J-Dymez stated as she began pacing around the yard, "Some of our battles were pushed back due to injury but we don't have long before we have to get back out there and waste the competition. We need to think of something and we need to do it fast."

"We can't do that if we don't have any information or a place to train," Torah stated as she looked around the group.

They decided that location was the first thing they were going to deal with since it seemed to be the easiest problem.

"We could always ask Ming-" before Naomi could even get the rest of her sentence out of her mouth J-Dymez shot it down.

"We're not asking Ming-Ming for help. I know she's family but I'm not about to get another handout."

Hiro furrowed his eyebrows at the word handout. He knew J-Dymez wasn't fond of the fact that his team was helping hers but she didn't need to state it. The blue haired coach refrained from saying anything about the matter since there was no time for debating over something so trivial for the time being.

"There's training facilities all over the neighbourhood, why can't we just use one?" Tyson asked and J-Dymez looked at him as if he had said something stupid.

"Public training facilities? Yeah, dat'll help us keep this all under wraps. Really guys!? It's like y'all ain't even tryin' anymore,"

"We're not! We're tired!" Daichi snapped as he rolled over onto his back and grumbled.

"And fed up with this mess." Toni added as she ran her fingers through her dark brown hair.

"We won't have to deal wit dis mess when we find a place to train! Our backyards are too small. We'll destroy shit in seconds, not to mention the neighbours'll probably call the cops because we'll be disturbin' the peace."

There was a collective groan before silence fell over the group.

"Why don't we just look around for a place to do all this? Like an old building or something?" Max suggested and for once, J-Dymez didn't turn the idea down.

The twenty-one year old Jamaican paused as she thought about Max's idea. She mulled it all over in her brain numerous times before shaking her head, "Sounds like a good idea but we don't have the time to be lookin' around like we're shoppin' for real estate..."

"Asking around never hurt." Kat commented in an annoyed voice and J-Dymez shot her an icy glare.

"Askin' around gets people suspicious and I know you ain't straight out the hood Kat, but askin' around DOES get people hurt."

The beyblader with the stone blue eyes merely rolled them and sneered before going back to being quiet.

"Janielle. If you keep shootin' down everyone's idea we ain't gonna get anywhere." Toni said.

J-Dymez had to agree. They weren't getting anywhere with her nitpicking but she wasn't about to take anymore chances. They needed a place to train and they needed it fast but finding said place was going to take time - something they didn't have at the moment.

Their options were limited in finding a location to make all this possible.

"Okay whatever. If any of you find a place that's cool. Just don't make it public," Giving up J-Dymez just threw the plan up in the air and left it. She was too tired to dwell on it any longer for the day.

Setting that aside, they moved on and returned to the scheduling situation since that seemed to be the second least difficult obstacle.

"We need to get those schedules from Hilary somehow." Tiky said as she looked towards Kierra, who nodded.

"Why can't one of us just go over to her house and get them? How serious can her grounding be?"

Tyson and a few of the other boys snorted.

"Hilary's rents have her on parental lockdown." Tyson stated. "I think they're trying to make her Amish or something..."

Tiky, Kierra, Toni and Torah inhaled sharply through their teeth as they thought about what Tyson had said.

"That serious? Damn!" Toni exclaimed, "What she do!?"

Ray held back a chuckle as he and Kai both turned to look at one another at the same time. They both knew why Hilary had been grounded but neither of them were going to say it. To stop Ray from laughing, Kai subtly nudged him in the ribs and whispered for Ray to keep his mouth shut.

Since no one seemed to know the answer to Toni's question, the Guyanese female grumbled.

This didn't seem to be going to well.

"Um... I have an idea..." Naomi said, raising her hand and getting everyone's attention. The group turned to the doe eyed female and waited for her to continue on, "I... was planning on visiting Hilary to talk to her about something. I could just ask about the schedule papers when I do."

There was another moment of silence as the group processed this idea. Someone had suggested it before but Tyson had said it wouldn't work. The navy haired male hadn't said that the plan would be a dud again and J-Dymez couldn't help but ask why that was.

"Uh... well, Max suggested first," Tyson recalled, pointing to Max, "When Hilary's grounded no ones allowed to talk to her and I said that then we just dropped the idea but..." He then turned to Naomi, "You're not a regular friend of hers... you could pretend like you don't even know she's grounded and go over there."

"Okay but what if her parents try to get Naomi to leave?" Toni asked and this gave Tyson pause. He thought and thought about it but he got frustrated and gave up as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"I don't know! Don't make me do all the thinking."

"Yeah, before your brain cells start popping. Can't afford to lose anymore of those..."

"She could always just make up an excuse to go in a get the papers. All Naomi has to say is that it won't take long, go upstairs then get them from Hilary." Torah shrugged.

The group seemed to come to a unanimous agreement but the sixteen year old that had spoken last couldn't help but make a face at the whole situation.

"It took us four days to come up with that!?" Torah asked as she looked around the group.

"Hey! It's hot outside and our brains are fried. We had other things to worry about." Kat said, justifying their poor decision making skills and lack of progression.

"Alright whatever. Hilary problem somewhat solved," J-Dymez spoke, waving on to the next matter. She looked towards Daichi briefly and asked about Kenny.

Daichi turned away angrily as he folded his arms and stated that he already spoke his apologies and it was Kenny's decision on accepting them or not. The annoyed redhead said nothing else on the matter.

"Guess we're visiting Kenny." Kierra said as she looked in Torah and Tiky's direction.

Hiro couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at the trio before leaning in to ask what made the three of them so sure that Kenny would listen to them. The Blade breakers were his team and best friends and he wasn't even speaking to any of them.

Kierra merely smiled. She knew that it was probably best for Daichi and Kenny to work things out but again, time was of the essence, "Well if you had three pairs of these talking to you." She referred to 'these' by pointing towards her chest, "Wouldn't you listen?"

"I would." Tyson remarked, earning him a smack in the back of the head from both Toni and Hiro.

"Kenny isn't perverted like Tyson." Ray informed, "I think your going to need a better tactic..."

Again Kierra merely smiled but soon began batting her eyes, "How can you resist talking to me? I mean, I'm gorgeous. There's no way Kenny will ignore me."

"Wow... how does that scrawny little body support that massive head and ego?" Kat commented, earning a few chuckles from the group and a glare from Kierra.

"Laugh it up but I have ways!" The green eyed Trinidadian/ Jamaican nymph remarked and folded her arms. She indeed had something planned up her sleeve, she was just not letting on to as much as she was stating.

"Alright fine. If you can get Kenny here or at least get what we need from him we'll be moving two steps ahead, assuming Naomi gets what we need from Hilary." J-Dymez said as she looked from Kierra to Naomi.

The two females nodded and the Sweet and Sour Candies's coach returned to stating just how tight on time everything was.

"We have a week before our first match thanks to Lala. We have D.J. and his crew on our asses now and we have to find a training location but if we get this whole unit movin' we'll be able to do what needs to be done. I agreed to this alliance so that you could help us but if we make no progress our deals off and we go back to doing what we did before."

As much as a majority of the Blade breakers didn't want to agree to he annulment of the alliance, Hiro nodded and said that what J-Dymez had said about the agreement being nulled was fair. What was the point of being in an agreement if nothing that was set up for said agreement was followed through?

"Naomi, get to working on the Hilary situation as soon as you can." the Maroon eyed female commanded before receiving a nod in response. She nodded back then turned to the mischievous trio of her own team, "You say you got something planned... it better be a good one."

Kierra nodded but Torah and Tiky were unsure. They knew that Kierra was going to drag them to see the glasses wearing engineer but they had no idea what she had planned.

"Don't worry J. I got this," Kierra winked.

As soon as all this was agreed upon another break was called and the group went about their business until it was necessary to assemble again. -

2:57 A.M. and someone was ringing that God forsaken doorbell. Kat was still awake but she was vexed to no extend as soon as she realized that the ringing wouldn't stop until someone answered the door.

Forcing her bruised body out of bed, Kat got up and headed for the door. She made sure to keep as quiet as possible in order not to wake the other house members but she couldn't help but curse as she drew nearer to the front door.

The ringing had paused for a while but that didn't stop Kat from unlocking the door and tearing it open.

"Who the hell is-" She stopped speaking as soon as she saw that no one was there. Kat peered out of the house and looked around.

She looked up the street. There was no one there. She looked down the street and again saw no one. Kat looked around again but still she saw no one. The bushes and trees were eerily still like the night and a cold chill quickly ran up Kat's spine as she closed the door and locked it.

"What the hell...?" She breathed and headed back towards her room slowly. She half expected the doorbell to ring again but it didn't and finally Kat retreated back to her room with an odd feeling looping her stomach into knots.

She began questioning if she had even heard the doorbell ring but she was certain that it had. Deciding to force herself to sleep Kat snaked herself under her bedding and attempted to go to sleep.

She'd tell the girls about it in the morning.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

The Sweet and Sour Candies were in their kitchen preparing for the day. Toni, Kat and J-Dymez all sat at the table and listened to Kierra as she dished out the instructions to Torah, Tiky and Naomi for the day. She pointed to each girl as she spoke their name and voiced what needed to be said before they all nodded in agreement.

"Naomi's going to go to Hilary's and we're going to the Ramen shop to see Kenny, okay?" The Trinidadian and Jamaican female clarified and the other girls nodded.

Toni quirked an eyebrow briefly before swishing her warm morning beverage around in her mug, "Why are you letting Naomi go by herself? She only just recovered and there are four of you! Why do the three of you need to see Kenny?"

Kierra, Torah, Naomi and Tiky looked towards the table at Toni and Kierra puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, "Hey! Its my plan! I can do what I want!"

Toni's left eye twitched as an irked feeling washed over her but she kept calm, "I'm just sayin' the sistah just finished being completely bedridden. I don't see why she should be by herself!"

"I-It's okay Toni, I'll be fine." Naomi said, waving the problem away than smiling. She patted her pocket and stated that she was fine going by herself but Toni couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her again.

"You sure? If you want one of us to go with you, we will..." The Guyanese girl was curious as to why Naomi had just patted her pocket but she didn't ask about it.

Naomi nodded, "I-I'll be okay. I need to get my legs working properly again anyways," she laughed but her light hearted joke left a fairly bitter taste in the coach, captain and vice captains mouth.

After Naomi's battle against Jay-Yu just over a week ago, she hadn't really been the same on her feet and that worried them for various reasons but Naomi always waved them off and said she'd be fine. They took her word for it, especially since they had gone to the hospital not too long after the battle to see if anything had been broken.

"Alright... if you think so." Toni commented before taking a sip from her coffee mug.

Kierra, Torah, Tiky and Naomi all smiled and nodded before saying their respected goodbyes and headed for the door. J-Dymez, Kat and Toni all waved fair well to the younger members then returned to eating the remainder of their breakfast in silence.

A long moment of silence past before Kat suddenly shot her head up from looking down at her food. She turned to Toni then to J-Dymez as she said; "It happened again..."

Toni and J-Dymez shot her curious looks.

"What happened again?" J-Dymez asked.

"The doorbell. It rang again last night. I answered, but no one was there... It was creepy..."

The Sweet and Sour Candies's coach as well as the Sweet and Sour Candies's captain exchanged looks before turning to look at Kat again.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! It was freaky..."

"Who the hell keeps doing that!?" Toni questioned, irritation filled her voice but J-Dymez shot her a glance that told her to calm down.

"Don't over react. It may be nothing. Just a bunch of punk kids annoying the neighbourhood."

"At nearly 3 in the morning?" Kat shot back and this time J-Dymez sent her a weary look.

"Like I said; annoying kids..."

"What if it isn't a bunch of annoying kids, J?" The Guyanese female asked.

J-Dymez looked at Toni but waved both her and Kat off and told them they were being paranoid. "You're like Hiro. I already let him talk me into running around the stadium the other night on a stupid assumption, don't get worked up over it."

"But-"

"Leave it alone. Both of you. If it really is something to deal with, we'll deal with it." That was the end of that conversation as the Jamaican female with pale bronze skin brought her tea up to her lips and began to drink from the cup.

Again, Kat and Toni exchanged glances but they didn't press the matter any further. They had other thing to worry about. -

The U.B.T. was underway and there were massive amounts of people there to watch two teams battle for the chance to advance onto the next round.

Tonights battle was a vicious one and it kept the crowd on edge and some even jumped out of their seats to cheer and holler for their team and although all this was going on the Chairman wasn't at all pleased.

He closed the blinds of the window that over looked the battle area and turned to Jay-Yu who stood on the other side of his desk. The Chairman wore an emotionless expression as he slowly walked back to his seat and sat down, staring at Jay-Yu all the while.

"I see no progression..." He said as he made a tent with his fingers. The Chairman slightly narrowed his eyes and Jay-Yu shuttered a little as he averted his gaze else where.

"They're avoiding us..."

The Chairman acknowledged Jay-Yu's statement but for a long while said nothing. Due to the long pause of silence Jay-Yu began to feel very uneasy and flinched as the Chairman sharply stood from his seat. He narrowed his eyes and the younger male before him.

"Maybe you just aren't trying hard enough..."

Jay-Yu refused to speak since he felt it would do him no good. The Chairman needed to yell and vent and he wasn't about to mess everything up by speaking. That just wasn't a good idea right now.

"I have given you all countless chances and yet you always seem to fuck them up!"

Again, Jay-Yu flinched. The Chairman barely swore so this definitely wasn't a good sign.

"Time and time again, I give you opportunity after opportunity and not once have you ever lived up to the expectations put on you and your group!" The Chairman slammed his fist down on the desktop and the contact sound eerily echoed throughout the office. Even the body guards by the door jumped.

"Tell me..." the Chairman began, "Tell me how you all fail to get a group of females to cooperate."

"They're strong willed! Not to mention their coach, captain and second in command are-" It was Jay-Yu's own fault. He should've just kept quiet during the Chairman's tirade but he couldn't help but defend himself. It was just an instinctive move.

"SILENCE!" The Chairman bellowed, causing Jay-Yu to shut his mouth immediately, "I want no further excuses. The S.a.S.C WILL be part of the Watanabe Elite, is that clear Jay-Yu?"

There was another long pause before the young male with the spiked hair nodded but averted his gaze downward. The Chairman turned his back on Jay-Yu as he massaged his temples with just his right hand. He gritted his teeth together and using his left hand, he waved Jay-Yu out the door.

Get out of my sight.

That was the last thing the Chairman said before Jay-Yu was dismissed. He left the Chairman's office and waiting in the hall was D.J.

The other male was leaning up against the opposite wall but straightened up as Jay-Yu came storming out and headed for the elevator.

"Shit. He sounded pissed!" D.J. snorted as he followed behind Jay-Yu but quickly caught up. He looked over his shoulder before turning to look at his tactical friend with a quirked brow. "Why the hell do you let him talk to you like that!?"

Jay-Yu exhaled heavily as he pressed the down button on the elevator. He looked back down the hall before turning to D.J. with a defeated expression.

"He's my father... What else can I do?"

The elevator arrived soon after and the two youths got in and headed down to the floor they needed to be on. D.J. sneered.

"There's no need for him to curse you like that! We're trying our fuckin' best but The Candies just ain't havin' it! They're stubborn!"

Jay-Yu let out a sarcastic chuckle, "Tell that to my father... Failure isn't accepted in his eyes."

Again, D.J. sneered.

"Can see why your mom left him..." he commented and this actually got Jay-Yu to smirk.

"I know. He's a real hard ass but I want to make him proud." He stared forward at the lift doors and narrowed his dark eyes as a serious expression soon took over his face, "The Chairman wants the Sweet and Sour Candies to be part of our alliance. They draw in a huge crowd and people pay and bet a lot of money to see them battle. We'd all make tons more if they were apart of the Watanabe Elite."

Another sneer, "Hey, I'm all for gettin' them to side with us. Believe me, it would make hitting on Torah a shit load easier but were gonna have to think of something... J, Kat and Toni are the leaders of the group and what they say goes. We need to get them on board then the rest of the team comes with them."

Jay-Yu shot the boy with dark green eyes a stern look before continuing to look forward.

"Don't you think I know that!?"

"HEY! Don't fuckin' snap at me Jay! I ain't your fuckin' father!"

The boy with spiked black hair sighed before taking a couple deep breaths in order to relax. The buzzer went off, indicating that they had arrived to their desired floor and as the two stepped out of the lifting box, Jay-Yu turned to D.J.

"I'm sorry. I just... want to make sure everything goes as planned. The girls apparently won't be bought..." He paused to think. He thought, and thought and thought harder and it wasn't long before a sly smirk etched across his lips.

At this, D.J. quirked his eyebrow again.

"Da fuck you smilin' about?"

"They won't be bought..." Jay-Yu began again as he smiled at his friend, "What about frightened?"

D.J. wore a slightly confused expression and it took him a moment or two to fathom where Jay-Yu's idea was going but once he figured it out, he began smirking as well before nodded.

"Ohh! I see." The darker skinned Japanese male commented, "Scare 'em into joining us. That's definitely me and Travis's department."

Jay-Yu nodded, "I'll leave all that up to you. After all, you are the leader."  
>"I know." D.J. smiled smugly, "Don't know why though. It's your old man running all this. Why aren't you in charge?"<p>

Jay-Yu merely shrugged but didn't verbally answer. He had answered this question before but it had been the Chairman Watanabe who had asked him. Jay-Yu wasn't about to let D.J. in on the truth. At least not right now...

"Let's just meet up with the others and get everything moving... We have another shipment of parts to get." -

Naomi went looking through her pocket for what seemed like the one millionth time and again she went up to badger the bus driver to see if she was really on the right track. Again, he stated that yes she was indeed on the right bus and sent her back to her seat but the lavender eyed female didn't return to sit.

Naomi sighed as she looked down at the address again then down towards her pocket. Kai had edited the note he had given her and just like she promised, Naomi was on her way to deliver it as well as get what she and the team needed from Hilary if she possibly could.

She wanted to peak at the note but she knew it wasn't right. What was written on that folded piece of lined paper was between Kai and Hilary... not matter how curious she was, she was merely just the messenger.

It took a moment before Naomi realized that the bus driver was telling her that they were at her stop and with a rushed thank you she hopped off the bus and headed up the street just like Kai's directional note instructed.

She read each road name sign and as soon as Naomi found the one she needed to be on she happily turned onto it and looked for Hilary's house number. Once finding that she climbed the stairs and rang the doorbell.

Naomi waited for an answer and it didn't take long for Hilary to appear at the door with a shock and slightly bewildered look.

"Naomi? What are you doing here?" She asked, inviting the shy beyblader into her home.

"I'm here on important business," Naomi smiled as she walked in then turned to face the chocolate eyed Japanese female, "You see... we need your help. The Blade breakers made a training alliance with our team - The Sweet and Sour Candies - but were having trouble grouping with one another and scheduling how and when to train with one another."

Again, Hilary wore a bewildered look. She was about to ask Naomi to stop and start at the beginning since this was all new to her. She had heard nothing of this training alliance before now and she wanted to wrap her head around it but Naomi continued to talk and before Hilary could speak, she was handing her the note from her pocket.

"Oh... and Kai asked me to give this to you..." Naomi said and Hilary took the note.

The brunette looked towards Naomi with bright and curious eyes, "Kai?" She wondered as she unfolded the note and quickly skimmed it before slowly taking in every word until she had it all memorized.

Hilary,

Sorry about getting you in trouble with your parents... again...  
>I know you're probably grounded with some serious house arrest time but... we need to talk.<br>I'm fairly sure I'm banned in getting within ten feet of your house so meet me at the park bench on the biker's trail if you can.

Thursday at 2

It's urgent...

Kai

Hilary lingered on the 'we need to talk' part of Kai's note and her stomach began to flip itself into knots. A series of questions and scenarios came rushing into her brain and none of which seemed like something she needed to deal with.

Since the day Kai had come over to apologize all she could do was think about him and the kiss they had shared before her parents came walking in.

It was true, Hilary was on some serious punishment for making out with Kai in her room while her parents weren't home but she couldn't help but want to sneak out and meet with him.

Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Hilary had to pause a moment, Thursday was in a day and a half but that seemed far too long for Hilary to stand. She wanted to know what Kai wanted to talk about and she wanted to know now, plus she wanted to see him again... that kiss had left a pretty lasting impression and although her mind had thought up a string of unpleasant outcomes to their planned meeting Hilary couldn't help be hopeful.

It took another moment for the brunette to realize Naomi had still been talking she asked the West Indian female to repeat herself so that she could follow along. Hilary also asked about how the training alliance came about and Naomi was force to start at the beginning.

The shy beyblader began from Tyson, Ray and Max coming into their change room after their match with D.J. and his gang but went on to elaborate everything else about their lives as underground beybladers. J-Dymez had released the bond of secrecy so Naomi felt it to be alright in telling Hilary absolutely everything... just so long as the brunette didn't go around telling anyone else.

After everything was clarified from The Sweet and Sour Candies dream of being notoriously recognized as the greatest all female beyblade team to their life of underground secrecy to the Blade breakers discovering their secret and wanting to help them train Hilary was officially caught up... somewhat.

It was a lot of information to wrap her head around and her mind kept going back to the note in her hand.

"Uh... okay" Hilary finally said and Naomi nodded.

"We need whatever information you have on the Blade breakers. It would really help with the planning..."

"Uh, well I have everything in a binder upstairs but beyblade stats... that's more Kenny's department."

"Kierra went with Tiky and Torah to see him! They want you both to come and help us with all this but you're grounded..."

Hilary smiled as she threw an arm around Naomi's shoulders and winked, "A little bad behaviour never hurt anyone. I may be grounded but if it'll help I'll sneak out."

Naomi's eyes went wide with shock, "B-But you'll get in trouble again!"

"Not if I don't get caught!" Hilary laughed before releasing the doe eyed female, "I've been good since my parents set the house arrest rules on me. They haven't been coming home early anymore and hardly check up on me so I might be in the clear for a little bit,"

"W-What did you do?"

Hilary paused as she looked at Naomi. She was actually rather shocked that the Jamaican and Bajan female didn't know the situation but then again, Naomi wasn't really one to ask questions. That's probably why Kai had picked her to relay his message.

The Japanese brunette smiled and sighed lightly before placing a hand on Naomi's shoulder.

"If you really want to know... I'll tell you, but don't let anyone know I let you in on this little secret, alright?"

Naomi nodded, "O-Okay..."

Hilary held out her pinky finger, "Pinky swear it?"

The lavender eyed beyblader looked down at Hilary's hand, back up at Hilary then back at her hand again before smiling, nodded and entwining her pinky finger with Hilary's.

"Pinky swear."

The Saien Ramen Stop was busier than ever today. Apparently a junior beyblading team had just come from a winning match and all the kids, as well as their coach were having Mrs. Saien's famous ramen bowls to celebrate.

Tiky cooed and awed over the children but Torah smacked her friend in the back of the head and told her to focus.

"We came for Kenny! Not to fawn over some dirty ankle bitters!" Torah stated before forcing Tiky towards the counter with Kierra.  
>The three girls stood and waited for Mrs. Saien to notice them. Once she did, they all greeted one another and before they knew it, Mrs. Saien called out to the back for Kenny to help her at the counter.<p>

Kierra smiled. She hadn't even done anything yet and everything was already falling into place. She quickly checked herself in the mini compact mirror she carried and adjusted everything that was out of place before Kenny came out and asked what his mother needed.

"Help them sweet heart, I'm still preparing the rest of the ramen bowls." Mrs. Saien ordered as she pointed towards the three girls who all waved and smiled at the glasses wearing engineer.

Kenny's cheeks turned pink and he was about to ask his mother if he could do something else but she was already heading back into the kitchen. Kenny gulped down the lump in his throat before walking up to the three females and asking them what they wanted to order.

Kierra, Tiky and Torah all bent over onto the counter and greeted Kenny and the poor eighteen year old couldn't help but notice the sudden onslaught of cleavage being pointed in his direction. His cheeks turned from pink to red.

"Hey Kenny." Kierra smiled as she tilted her head and began drawing patterns on the wooden counter top with her finger.

"H-Hi." Kenny stuttered before asking the girls what they wanted to order.

"We wanted to talk to you!" Tiky exclaimed with a smile before turning her head to look at Kierra, who was currently wearing a rather seductive looking expression.

"It's important!" Torah added as she did the same and turned to look at Kierra.

"Umhmm," Kierra nodded, "Very important. I was wondering... if you could help us?"

"W-With what?" Kenny asked and forced himself to look away from the three girls. If he kept staring he felt he was going to end up fainting and possibly embarrassing himself.

"Oh, a bunch of stuff," Kierra went on, still wearing that playful smile of hers.

"You see, we made an alliance with your team and we were wondering-" Tiky began speaking and Kenny soon turned to look at them again.

With a sour tone he said; "Oh. Them." He then turned away, "Look... I'm really sorry but if you're not going to order anything I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We're busy."

The girls all frowned.

"But- but-"

He shook his head but kept his back turned towards them, "Its order or leave... I don't want to be rude but... we don't have time..."

Kierra frowned further while Tiky and Torah exchanged glances.

"Since you put it that way, can I get some Miso Pork Ramen with extra eggs!? That's the shit!" Torah exclaimed and Tiky nodded.

"Can I have Shōyu Ramen? I heard your mom makes it the best!" Tiky added.

"Sure..." Kenny nodded before writing down the orders and heading into the back of the shop.

Torah and Tiky clapped their hands together as they turned to discuss their soon to be served food but Kierra sat there seemingly dumbfounded. She honestly couldn't believe how easy it had been for Kenny to just blow them off like that.

This was quite a blow to the green eyed females ego as she angrily folded her arms. Ray had been right about Kenny not being as perverted as Tyson so now Kierra was left to think up a new plan.

Within the span of ten minutes, Kenny and Mrs. Saien arrived back with the rest of the orders and Tiky and Torah cheered as the two glasses wearing brunettes handed them their food. They said their thank yous and dug in.

Mrs. Saien laughed and went to deal with other customers while Kenny headed back to work in the kitchen. Kierra let out a defeated sigh. She couldn't think of another plan and her mind was too focus on her bruised ego so she was ready to leave and try again as soon as she figured out a better way to deal with the broken hearted beyblade engineer.

The Trinidadian and Jamaican female turned to look at her friends slurping down their bowls of broth and noodles and she rolled her bright green eyes.

"Okay! Ray was right, I'm gonna need a new plan!"

"Told ya you're not that pretty." Torah teased and Kierra whined before smacking the blue eyed nymph in the arm.

"Shut up! I am pretty!"

"Not pretty enough."

Both Tiky and Torah began to chuckle but this only made Kierra even more upset. She threw her hands up before whipping out her mini mirror. She snapped it shut as she turned to look at the two eating friends.

"Liars! I am pretty!" She hopped up off the stool she was sitting on and stormed off while Tiky and Torah sat and continued eating their noodles. -

A couple of hours had gone by and Torah and Tiky were ready to head back to the S.a.S.C house but Kierra wouldn't let them. The pretty beyblade engineer had come up with the new plan sometime after the dynamic duo had finished their meal and they were now all waiting for Kierra's second plan to be set in motion.

"Jeez Kierra! When is this brilliant plan of yours going to happen?" Tiky whined as she slid down the wooden fence a few paces away and sat down on the ground.

"If it's anything like her last plan it's not gonna turn out well," Torah teased and earned herself another one of Kierra's displeased looks.

"Oh shut up Torah!" Kierra said as she turned back to watch the Saien Ramen shop with great intent. Her patience was wearing pretty thin but as soon as she saw her opportunity arise Kierra's mood perked up and the young female turned to her two companions. "I'll be right back!" she said before hopping off.

Kenny was currently on break but was coming out from behind the shop counter to bring the trash to the large waste bin at the end of the walkway. He tossed the bag inside the waste receptacle and jumped as Kierra appeared behind him.

"Kierra! I... thought you left with Tiky and Torah..." He said before averting his gaze elsewhere. Kenny's cheeks were beginning to pink again.  
>Kierra merely shook her head as she wore a more innocent smile and kept her hands behind her back as she teetered back and forth on her heels.<p>

"I said I wanted to talk to you about something important..."

Kenny frowned, "I-I'm sorry. I really don't want to talk about the other Blade breakers. Besides, I'm sure you can find someone else to help you." He was about to walk past Kierra to head back inside but she quickly hot stepped in front on him in order to block his path.

"But you're their blade engineer. We need you!"

Kenny paused and eyed Kierra. She wore a look of sadness and slight desperation. It really would've convinced him to stay and speak with her if Daichi didn't suddenly pop into his mind. Kenny shook the image of his redheaded teammate out of his psyche and tried getting past Kierra once again.

"No." was all he said.

"But Kenny!" Kierra said in a very whiny voice, "Please!?" she seemed to be begging now as she placed a hand on his shoulder that stopped him dead in his tracks, "I know your mad at Daichi but if you won't do it for your team, do this for us... for me?"

The look Kierra gave him next made Kenny's stomach loop and he really couldn't say no as his eyes locked with her bright green orbs. He sighed, he really never could say no to a pretty girl.

"What do you need to know?" He asked, sounding defeated but Kierra clapped and began to hop up and down before throwing herself at him and tightly hugging the Blade breakers's blade engineer.

"Thank you Kenny!" She cooed before squeezing him tighter.

"Y-You're welcome," He replied, it was getting hard for him to breath but finally, Kierra released her vice like grip on him and quickly went into explaining what she needed from him.

Kierra told Kenny about their stat and scheduling dilemma and he adjusted his glasses before quickly removing them to wipe them in his shirt.

"I can give you all the information I have but... it may take awhile. I have it all save on my laptop but I also have it saved on a couple of information drives..."

Again, Kierra clapped, "That would be helpful but... that may take too long... can't you just come to the house and share the information with me?"

Kenny's cheeks turned beet red. He tried speaking but soon found himself tripping over his words.

"I- uh- me- you- I- you see- t-that would be- I um..." he just shook his head as soon as he realized that he couldn't get the words out. This caused Kierra to frown but Kenny quickly went on to explain himself, "I... just can't. If I see Daichi or Ming-Ming I... I don't know... I just don't want to be stuck in an awkward situation..."

He paused to look away. Feeling that this conversation would get even more uncomfortable, Kenny - once again - tried getting past Kierra but again, she wouldn't let him.

"Now you're just acting like a baby!" Kierra snapped as she placed her hands on her hips, "I know its not suppose to be any of my business but you and Daichi are being stupid! Shouldn't friendship be more important than a girl?"

"Daichi knew I liked Ming-Ming!"

"Okay, I get it. Daichi did do something pretty jerky but going out with Ming-Ming but he said sorry, from what I heard..."

"Why should saying sorry be enough?"

"Because you guys are friends..."

"How would you like it if one of your friends went out with a guy you liked?"

"... Okay! I'd be so mad about that but I'd get over it because my friends are more important than a guy!" Kierra inhaled deeply after her little rant. She soon brought a gentle smile to her lips as she looked at Kenny and placed the hand she rested on his shoulder up to rest on his warm blushing cheek.

Kenny was caught completely off guard by Kierra's action and froze.

"Daichi and Ming-Ming are together now and there's really nothing you can do about it but... there are always other girls. Losing a girl is nothing compared to losing a friend..."

She had a point but Kenny didn't feel like having this conversation. He stared down at the ground and gently removed Kierra's hand from his face. "I get why she picked him. I get why all of them get the attention they get from girls. I'm just a beyblade engineer and I'm definitely not as memorable as any of my teammates... what girl would want to go out with me?"

"I don't know..." Kierra began but continued to smile, "But whatever girl turns you down is missing out on someone that's really sweet and really smart..."

Kenny looked up at her sheepishly, "R-Really?"

Kierra nodded, "Umhmm. Sure Tyson's the world champ, Max is a cutie, Ray and Kai are total hotties and the Hiro and Daichi are cute too-"

"This talk isn't really helping..."

"Then let me finish!" She snapped before lightly slapping both her hands on either side of Kenny's face. She gently squeezed his cheeks together and this forced Kenny's lips to pucker out. Kenny now wore a fair awkward expression but again, Kierra just smiled. "You're fine the way you are... just come by the house and help us please? Besides... your team misses you... Daichi too..."

There was a long pause as Kierra's words sunk in. Kenny's face turned beet red but he sighed and finally agreed to her demands. Kierra squealed and quickly clapped before bringing her hands back to Kenny's face again.

"Don't worry Kenny." She whispered before quickly looking over her shoulder, "You're just as cute as the other boys..." She straightened up before patting him lightly on the cheek, "See you around?"

"Y-Yeah..." Kenny answered, completely embarrassed by the last thing Kierra had said.

The green eyed Trinidadian and Jamaican girl waved goodbye before requesting to see him tomorrow and Kenny said that he'd try his best to be there. Kierra said that she'd hold him to his word and was off but not before looking over her shoulder to watch him return to the Ramen Stop completely flustered.

Kierra met back up with Tiky and Torah and the two asked her how it went. Kierra smiled; "And you said my new plan would suck! Kenny's back on board!"

The three girls exchanged high fives just before Tiky whipped out her phone to tell the others the good news. They headed back down the walkway in order to catch the next bus but again, Kierra looked over her shoulder at the Ramen Shop.

She really did find Kenny quite adorable... in a quirky sort of way.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Thursday was finally here and Kai felt himself to be extremely anxious. He had anticipated this day since fathoming the idea for the note he had sent Hilary but his stomach couldn't help but loop itself into knots.

The slate haired male frowned as he looked himself in the mirror in the bathroom. He stared at his reflection to the point where he was even tilting his head from side to side as he studied his face.

His expression went indifferent now as he began thinking. Why did Hilary have such strong feelings for him in the first place?

He wasn't at all sure why this question popped up into his head but it did and he couldn't help but wonder.

Yes. He was good-looking, he knew that, but Hilary was a girl of substance. Being good-looking didn't seem like it was the key component to Hilary's feelings.

Kai furrowed his eyebrows together as he studied himself a bit harder and continued to think about the question. He wasn't one of the Blade breakers with the best personality. He knew that as well, so...why him?

Not that he was really complaining since finding his feelings for her. Kai wouldn't want Hilary to be with anyone else. He was just curious how her feelings had come about.

He suddenly stood up straight and finally turned away from the mirror. Maybe he'd ask when he saw her later.

Exiting the bathroom and making his way towards the main hall, Kai turned the corner and nearly bumped into Ray, who was actually on his way to his room to get a fresh change of clothes. The golden eyed male apologized for nearly walking into his best friend but paused as he quickly looked Kai over, quirked an eyebrow then allowed a sly smirk to etch onto his lips as he looked back up at Kai's face.

"Well." Ray began, still smirking, "Don't you look sharp."

Kai rolled his eyes before looking down at himself. He didn't seem to be wearing anything too out of the ordinary, although he had done a pretty good job with accessorizing his outfit today.

It was boiling hot outside but he was wearing dark clothes - A sapphire blue fitted t-shirt and a pair of black jeans to be exact - As well as one of those in-fashion grey tartan scarves.

"Anxious?" Ray suddenly asked, drawing Kai's attention back up at him. Kai didn't answer, instead he just veered the topic towards Ray.

"Why are you in such a rush?" The half Russian asked.

Ray looked down the hall towards his room, "Going out with Tyson, Max and a few of the girls. Gonna go and see if we can check out some of the abandoned buildings near the pier so we can use it as the training site." His gold cat eyes came back to look at Kai and Ray continued to wear that cheeky look, "We're planning on getting some pizza or something later. You and Hilary could join us- but I think you two may be a little busy."

This made Kai quirk an eyebrow, "Busy doing what?"

Ray shrugged, "I don't know," He said before starting to head down the hall again, "Sucking face." After saying that Ray made a bolt for his room, which was a fairly smart idea since Kai began chasing him as soon as the word face escaped his lips.

Ray managed to get away but Kai stared daggers at the cat-like male's bedroom door.

"Not funny!" Kai snapped before glaring at the door once more then turning away.

"Name a baby after me!"

Ray's last comment couldn't help but make Kai smirk just a little. It was a rather good comeback since, not too long ago, Kai had made almost the same comment regarded Ray and Naomi.

"I'm flipping you off right now!" Kai shot back, also throwing up the middle finger as he walked down the hall and towards the door. It was time to head out.

Slipping on a pair of all black runners, Kai quickly checked his pocket for his keys and cell phone before heading out. He didn't bother to lock the door since he knew a few of his teammates would be leaving soon so he headed down the stairs and onto the sidewalk.

Just as Kai's foot hit the sidewalk pavement a chirper voice let out a meek little hello. Kai turned and said hello back as he caught sight of Naomi waving at him. He gave the young female time to come up strolling up to him before she stopped and smiled.

"Seeing Hilary today right?" she asked.

He nodded and her smile got wider before she gently patted him on the shoulder.

"Good Luck... I hope you don't get tongue tied."

Kai half smiled before gently reaching out and messing around with Naomi's hat and hair. She giggled a little bit.

"Thanks." Kai said, "By the way... You might want to tell Ray you like him. The dude's oblivious." Kai didn't wait to see Naomi's reaction since he turned on his heels and began walking away but he suspected she was blushing and that her cheeks were as red as tomato sauce.

Their meeting spot was just ahead and that awkward looping feeling Kai's stomach had been feeling was beginning to get worse. He hated how it felt and he hated how Hilary made him feel this way but at the same time...he kind of liked it.

Walking along the park's dirt pathway Kai began kicking a stone as he thought about Hilary. He made sure he knew exactly what he wanted to say and he carefully planned out every single one of Hilary's reactions.

In his mind, there was nothing that could possibly go wrong right now and although his stomach was acting up, he felt pretty confident about himself.

Kai finally reached the meeting place he had talked about in the note and although he was standing by the park bench on the biker's path, he didn't sit. Instead he just stood there and waited for the brunette.

He looked around and saw no one but that made him feel at ease. At least he wouldn't have an audience to his confession.

The slate haired youth stood there waiting a while until he reached into his back pocket to check his phone for the time.

1:55 P.M.

She'd be here any minute.  
>Just as Kai was about to put his phone away, it began to vibrate with the announcing of a text message.<p>

It was from Hilary. He opened it without a second thought but everything around him and inside him went completely blank as he read what she wrote.

_Parents caught me sneaking out... I'm sorry..._  
><em>I'll have to see you some other time...<em>

He read it again and again until the words properly sunk in but after they did, Kai wasn't sure what he was feeling. It wasn't rage, but it sort of felt like it. It wasn't disappointment but it sort of felt like that too. He furrowed his eyebrows then sighed heavily as he placed the silver cellular device back into his pocket.

'So much for all that careful planning...' He thought as he turned to walk away but as he did he nearly bumped into someone. He almost snapped and was about to curse them and tell them to watch where the hell he was going but he stopped as he saw a familiar pair of chocolate eyes staring up at him.

Kai backed away slightly and went slightly wide eyed as his brain made the connections it needed too.

"Hilary." He said.

She smiled and gave a sheepish wave.

"Got my text?" She asked.

Kai nodded but couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her, "But... I thought..."

"I was just yanking your chain." She said before suddenly taking the time to stroll around him, "Kind of like how you've been yanking mine."

"That's not funny." He remarked as he watched her circle him briefly before reaching out to place his hands on her shoulders and stop her.

They were facing each other now. He was staring at her, and she was staring back.

"I didn't say it was..." she said and Kai half smiled. Damn that wit of hers. He continued to stare at her and Hilary continued to stare back for awhile but the shorter Japanese female began to fidget under his gaze.

They had met up to talk... why weren't they talking... and why was he just... looking at her like that?

Hilary opened her mouth to speak and ask but before any words could escape, Kai pulled her in and locked lips with hers. He wanted to speak and say everything he wanted to say but he couldn't.

Quickly deciding that actions spoke louder than words, Kai just chose to kiss the brunette and she stood there stunned. Hilary was rigid but only for a moment or two before getting into it and wrapping her arms around Kai's neck.

He pulled her closer to him and began kissing her passionately. All this was making Hilary's head spin but in a good way. Instead of her head being filled with so many questions, the Blade breaker's vice coach just enjoyed what was happening.

When the two finally did pull away, Hilary brought her hands to Kai's face and began to lightly caress his cheeks with her thumbs. He pressed his forehead to hers as she did.

"Does... this mean you... well... you know..." She refused to say it.

Kai shrugged and this made Hilary a little mad. She pulled away, looking upset and slightly distraught.

"B-But... You just. I-You- But we just-"

Kai suddenly began to chuckle as he pulled Hilary back towards him.

"You don't like being teased now do you?" He remarked and Hilary shot him a rather icy stare.

"That's not fair! You've been torturing me for years! I only did it once!"

"Hn. Well then, now you know that I don't like being teased either."

This forced a smile from Hilary as she returned her forehead to pressing against his, "I've always known that..."

"I'm sure you have." He whispered before kissing her again. Completely throwing everything he planned out the window, Kai and Hilary continued to kiss one another until Hilary turned away so that she could regain her breath.

Kai didn't seem to be finished but that didn't stop him from continuing. He kissed her cheek, her jawline, her chin and was even so bold as to kiss her neck. Hilary squeaked and gripped her fingers into Kai's back but turned to him as he pulled away.

"Seriously..." she said, making sure to look him straight in the eyes, "Does this mean... you... have feelings for me?"

"No. I just want to bang you in the middle of the park."

"I hate you."

"I know." Kai smirked before kissing Hilary's forehead.

The two finally motioned to sit on the park bench and as they did, Hilary and Kai's fingers began to intertwine as they started holding hands.

"I drive you crazy." Kai began, "But I'm going to do it in a good way from now on."

Hilary smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder, "Sounds, like a plan..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"YES!" Tyson exclaimed as he walked along with his group of seven. Ray, Max, Torah, Tiky, Kierra and Naomi trailed behind him, all pleased as well but not to the same extend Tyson was displaying.

"I can't believe we found a place in such amazing condition at the pier." Max commented as he looked towards the group. They all nodded. They had discovered a small but perfectly useable old storage building with a little office near the back of it. It had enough space for them to all train and as soon as the boys had finished inspecting it, Tiky and Kierra had alerted the rest of the combined team about their findings.

They'd all meet to see it tomorrow.

"A celebration is in order I say." Ray smiled. Torah and Tiky quickly agreed before throwing up their excited fist and yelling;

"PIZZA!" The two busty females started hopping up and down as they all motioned back towards the city and the others laughed.

Tyson continued to lead the way as they entered the nearest pizza shop and sat down at one of the empty booths. The place was fairly packed but they all didn't care, they were all too happy.

"Pizza's on... Hiro!" Tyson remarked as he searched through his wallet and pulled out his brother's bank card. He had swiped it off the kitchen table before leaving.

"That's cold! How you gonna do the man like that!?" Torah asked.

"Do YOU want to pay for the pizza?"

"I didn't say that now. I was just askin' how you were gonna do your brother like that. I'm all for lettin' him pay!"

The group broke out into laughter as Tyson hopped up and said that he'd go an order. He asked what everyone wanted on their pizza but since everyone wanted something different they had to come to an agreement.

A party sized pizza, half cheese and have meat lovers.

The navy haired male went to the counter while the others got comfortable.

"Kai's going to be the first to teach everyone since he has no problem with waking up early. He, Hiro, J-Dymez and Ray will do endurance training then sometime around noon Tyson will take over for offence training. Max'll do defence training sometime after that." Kierra said.

Tiky, Max, Ray and Naomi acknowledged this information but Torah merely groaned before stretching and pouting, "Can we just enjoy the smell and taste of free pizza before we talk strategy?"

"Kierra is right in telling us. We really do have to get as much of this done as possible." Naomi piped in, "We do have a match on Saturday."

"Yeah, yeah Miss Goodie Goodie." Torah snorted as she waved her elder sister's comment off.

Tiky nodded, "Naomi's right. Also, we probably won't be doing it until later but we'll be having one on one sessions just to even out our teams weaker points."

"We'll be working one on one?" Max questioned. Tiky nodded again.

"You'll have to work with everyone one on one but not Torah as much as the others since she's already a defensive type beyblader. All you guys'll be doing is refining her skills." Kierra said.

"That and making out." Tiky joked.

Max and Torah blushed but the two blue eyed teenagers laughed.

"Can't promise we won't." Torah said shrugging.

It wasn't long before Tyson returned but the pizza wouldn't be done for a while so the group just sat there and chatted amongst themselves as they waited. A few in formal as well as personal questions were tossed around but unlike all the other times, everyone was happy to answer anything thrown in their direction.

There were a few joke answers but it was all in good fun.

"What can I say? I like girls with some fire." Tyson shrugged. Tiky and Torah had asked him about the complicated relationship he held with Toni and since their team captain wouldn't tell them anything, their next best source to get details were from the significant other.

"Okay, but I have no clue what she sees in you." Torah teased.

Tyson snorted, "What are you talking about?! I'm total hotness!"

"More like total hot mess."

"Just because you're Max's girl doesn't mean I'm not gonna pick on you. You better watch out Torah." Tyson warned.

The group merely laughed.

"No worries. Torah's got Max to protect her." Tiky chirped.

"Please. I can handle Tyson all on my own, Max just needs to stand on the sidelines and make sure to be there to comfort Tyson when I make him cry like a little girl!" Torah shot back.

There was some good spirited bickering between Tyson and Torah and again the group broke out into loud laughter. Naomi was in the process of wiping joyful tears from her eyes when she spotted a familiar couple walking in.

"Hey! It's Kai and Hilary!" she pointed out before pointing at the two and having everyone glance in their direction.

"Kai and Hilary?" Tyson said, cocking a brow, "What are those two doing here... alone!?"

"Don't start jumping to conclusions Tyson." Max warned but the blue haired champion ignored him. The group watched as Kai and Hilary made their way to the counter. The group stayed eerily silent as they watched the two, thinking they would just catch sight of them and join the festivities but they all wore shocked expressions as Kai quickly said something to Hilary before kissing her and sending her off to go find a place to sit.

"OH MY GOD!" Max, Tyson, Torah, Kierra and Tiky all said in unison. Ray and Naomi merely exchanged cheerful glances.

It wasn't long before Hilary caught sight of the group and froze.

"How long has this been going on!?" the shocked members of the group asked at the same time.

Kai and Hilary awkwardly sat there with them, refraining from speaking as much as possible but it was mostly from being so embarrassed. They hadn't talked about it- when they'd announce their newly discovered relationship to the gang but now they didn't have to since their P.D.A at the pizzeria counter already let them in on it.

"Well... It hasn't been very long..." Hilary finally decided to answer, looking towards Kai, who just kept his eyes focused down.

"How long is 'not very long'?" Torah urged and Hilary sheepishly answered that she and her half Russian, half Japanese companion only started dating today.

"Oh SNAP!" Tiky and Torah exclaimed and this brought on a new slew of questions. Hilary was able to answer most of them until Kai snapped and told them to can it with the questions. Torah and Tiky immediately went silent but Kai's annoyed outburst didn't at all stop Tyson's curiosity.

"So... you two haven't... you know... messed around, have you?"

"Oh God Tyson!" Ray sighed as he slapped his palm over his forehead, "You can't just ask people if they've...had sex." It took the neko-jin awhile to say the last part since he was beginning to feel just as awkward about the situation as Kai and Hilary were.

"What!? Just because they started going out today doesn't mean Kai hasn't fu-"

"CONVERSATION OVER! DROP IT!" Kai snapped, causing the table to go silent again, "If any of you ask anymore questions... I'll tear out your eyes and piss on your brain! Is that clear!?"

The group nodded before Tyson turned to Max.

"Sheesh." He whispered, "No wonder their together. They're two halves of a whole..."

"I-I don't want to ask any questions but I-I just want to say that I'm h-happy for you." Naomi stammered, bringing Hilary's attention over to the timid girl.

Hilary's face was redder than a red delicious apple and she was embarrassed beyond all comprehension but she smiled at Naomi and murmured a small thank you.

The two girls shared a small smile before someone came with the groups pizza.

To fill the awkward silence, the group immediately began eating but after having their fill, Tyson started it all up again.

"So Kai. Have you copped a feel off of the harpy yet?"

"TYSON!"

The walk back to the dojo was quite painful in Kai's opinion. He was currently in the process of massaging his temples as Hilary raged and cursed at Tyson for his inappropriate questions and jokes. The fiery brunette even tore off a tree branch to beat the annoying blue haired male with it but that didn't stop Tyson from continuing on with embarrassing the new couple.

Ray laughed and patted Kai on the shoulder.

"Sorry that your first hour with Hilary as your girlfriend isn't going as... smoothly as you had hoped." The cat-like male said and Kai let out a low groan.

"You know, I remember you telling me what you were all going out for pizza, I just didn't expect you all to be at the exact same one Hilary picked for us to eat at."

Ray shrugged but kept on smiling, "The heavens knew you'd take forever to tell all of us that you two were dating so they just speed up the process and allowed us all to see you make out at the pizza counter."

"Your jokes do not amuse me."

Again, Ray shrugged.

When the group finally returned to the dojo, Hilary had finally given up on making Tyson stop with his constant irritating comments and just decided to take them. He'd run out of annoying energy sooner or later and the Japanese female was greatly looking forward to that.

As Max and Torah led the way towards the main entrance the two blue eyed teens caught sight of a bicycle posted up against the Blade breakers home.

Torah looked towards Max and without having to verbally ask, the Jamaican and Bajan nymph questioned the blonde about who the bike belonged too.

It took Max a moment or two but as soon as he figured it out, he smiled. Max turned to Tyson and shoved his navy haired friend in the shoulder to get his attention.

"Tyson! Kenny's here!" Max exclaimed before pointing towards the bike.

Tyson paused as he looked towards the bike, then to the dojo's door then back at Max.

"Seriously?" He asked and Max nodded. "DUDE!" Tyson yelled with excitement brimming from his person. "Kenny's here!"

Upon hearing that the one missing member of the group was currently inside the dojo, the pack of teenagers headed inside as quickly as they could so that they could greet the short Beyblade engineer but Hilary and Kai lingered back a little bit.

"At least they have someone else to focus on. That was so embarrassing." Hilary groaned as she shook her head then planted her face into one of her palms.

"Hn." Kai said in response before turning to the brunette. He smirked at her. "Guess this saves us the trouble in telling them."

"True, but I wish we actually got to tell them instead of everyone seeing us kiss. Which reminds me... I never thought you'd be a fan or P.D.A."

"I'm not." He admitted, "But It's okay once in a while I guess. It tells all those other idiots out there that you're mine."

"Possessive. I figured you'd be that type of boyfriend." She smiled before making the effort to walk forward and lead the way into the dojo.

"You seem to think you know a lot about me. From what I can tell you do but..." Before finishing his sentence, Kai caught Hilary around the waist and pulled her to his so that her back was pressed against his chest. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek briefly before continuing, "You'll be surprised about how much you don't know about me."

Hilary felt her face flush and her knees go weak for a moment but she kept smiling as she allowed her body to meld with his during their embrace.

She really did know a lot about Kai but she really didn't mind learning more.

After all the hugs and I miss yous and so on and so forth, Kenny couldn't help but smile. He didn't think the group missed him this much but it was great knowing that they did.

Tyson, Max and a couple of the girls bombarded him with questions like; 'If he'd be staying long' and 'Is he still mad at Daichi' and of course there was the ever burning question; would he forgive Daichi and that one made Kenny pause.

He had thought about Kierra's words from the other day that friendship was much more important than a female. Bros before hoes. That was the guy code's main rule but it was evident that the Blade breakers weren't your typical guys.

Kenny was a rather sensitive person and although it hurt...

"I... guess so." The glasses wearing Blade breaker said.

"So you're gonna talk to Daichi again!? Sweet deal man." Tyson smirked before giving Kenny a bro-fist.

"Yeah. Hiro let me in and told me Daichi wasn't here... I assume he's out with... Ming-Ming." It took him a while to say the blue haired females name but he managed to choke it out.

Naomi and Torah exchanged glances quickly before looking at Kenny.

"Ming-Ming isn't really your type." Torah spoke. "She's too self absorbed."

"That's Kenny's type." Tyson teased.

Naomi merely shook her head, "She's our cousin. We know her. She's not exactly... the right girl for someone like you Kenny. You're definitely a giver in a relationship and Ming-Ming is definitely a taker but you two... wouldn't be compatible..."

Kenny didn't speak all he did was shrug. Naomi and Torah were probably right but he didn't want to hear that right now. As a matter of fact he was hoping to have the conversation drop.

"Whatever. Forget Ming-Ming. There are so many other hot girls out there! Tiky and Kierra are still single!" Tyson remarked as he playing elbowed Kenny in the side. Whose face soon began turning hot pink.

"Tyson, can you refrain from pimping people out to one another? Kenny'll find someone when the time is right." Ray said.

"Yes, he will! He's a little stud!" Torah chirped before rustling Kenny's thick brown locks. The group chuckled but Torah smiled and quickly leaned in to quietly whisper to Kenny that Kierra and Tiky were indeed the only single girls left in their group.

Catching wind of Torah's comment Max stated that Naomi was single too but oddly enough this caused Kai to snort.

"She is not." Kai commented, looking in Ray's direction. The Chinese male rolled his eyes then shot Kai a stern look. Telling him; 'Don't go there' but Kai really didn't need to. Most of the group knew where he was going with his comment.

Tyson snorted soon after, "They're just 'friends'." He said sarcastically. Using air quotations to emphasize the word; friends.

"Why don't you all just shut the hell up?" Ray said in a rather snappish tone.

"Why don't you just make the hell out with her? Maybe then we'll leave you alone."

"R-Ray and I are j-just friends. W-We d-don't see each other that way." Naomi said as a very unconvincing rebuttal.

"Is that why you're the same colour as a tomato?"

"Okay, quit teasing them now. Kenny and Naomi have been embarrassed enough. Can we move on?" Ray spoke again. His snappy tone still there.

"Getting defensive?" Kai commented, resulting in Ray glaring at him again.

"Alright, alright, settle down. Let's just be glad Kenny's back and the whole team is together!" Hilary said, veering the conversation back to it's original topic, "We have a goal and that's the train the Sweet and Sour Candy Beybladers. We need to stop lying around and start working on what needs to be done!"  
>Kierra and Tiky agreed but Tyson groaned as he dramatically fell onto his back, "Can we just do this tomorrow!?"<p>

"Get your lazy ass up! We have work to do!"

"Now I remember why we didn't miss you! Well, Kai must've missed you... since you two are lovers and all."

"Don't start you ostrich humping, goat faced monkey!"

"Thunder cunt!"

"Asslips!"

"And here we go again..." Max sighed, shaking his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Planning, bickering, planning, bickering, planning, bickering, more planning and more bickering. That was how the rest of the afternoon went and it was seriously giving Kenny a headache now. He had missed his friends but he was beginning to miss the peace and tranquility of his room at home...

Leaving the room for a break from Tyson and Hilary's uncivil, sibling like behaviour, Kenny headed for the kitchen to retrieve a glass of water and possibly an aspirin.

The short Japanese youth went into the refrigerator for a bottle of water and just as he closed the door, he heard the door that lead to the garage open and close.

Kenny glanced through the doorway and upon seeing flaming red hair he groaned as he took a healthy swig from his water bottle. Of course he'd be the first to run into Daichi after his date with Ming-Ming.

The Beyblade engineer stayed as still as possible, hoping Daichi wouldn't see him but he really did freeze as a giggling batch of cyan blue hair came hopping into the dojo behind Daichi.

The overactive redhead turned to Ming-Ming and told her to be quiet and the sixteen year old female nodded before pretending to zip her lips.

"I don't think I'm supposed to be here." Ming-Ming said in her Queen voice.

"What they dun know won't hurt 'em." Daichi commented, causing Ming-Ming to giggle again.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, causing Daichi to stumble back into the kitchen doorway. They rested against the kitchen doorframe and Kenny found himself in a very awkward position.

He didn't want to watch this and he was beginning to feel that same feeling of rage he had felt when he had caught Daichi with Ming-Ming the first time. The glasses wearing brunette turned away and tried clearing his throat in a cheap attempt to get them to stop but it didn't seem to be working.

He tried a couple more times before loudly saying; Ahem.

Finally, Daichi and Ming-Ming's attention went to Kenny and the couple stopped but Daichi froze.

'Great!' Daichi thought with irritation. Kenny was back and the first thing he was doing since seeing him again was making out with Ming-Ming. "Uh... hey." Daichi greeted.

Ming-Ming waved and said hello as well.

"Hi." Kenny said as he gripped his water bottle, a little bit tighter than he should have. "I... think I'm gonna go."

"When'd you get here?" Daichi asked, watching as Kenny made an attempt to leave the kitchen.

"A while ago."

There was an awkward silence as Kenny looked to pass the couple but they were completely blocking the exit. His only other option was to go through the back door and escape outside but that would be even more awkward and since Kenny decided that he'd patch things up with Daichi, running through the back wouldn't be a good idea.

"Well... I'm... gonna head back to the gang and-"

"Kenny!"

The loud calling of Kenny's name forced the three teenagers in the kitchen to look in the direction it came from.

Skipping down the hall was Kierra. The green eyed Trinidadian-Jamaican gently pushed past Daichi and Ming-Ming and took hold of Kenny's hands before stating that she had been looking for him.

"We need to get back to work!" she chimed before turning to Ming-Ming and Daichi. Kierra quickly said hello to both of them before linking arms with Kenny and grabbing his faces. She rubbed her nose against his and said; "Sorry to take him away you guys but I need his help!" before dragging Kenny off with her, Kierra quickly planted a kiss on the short brunette's cheek. "Talk to you both later! Unless you want to join us in the living room."

"We'll be there in a minute." Ming-Ming said as she and Daichi watched Kierra drag Kenny off with her.

Kenny, all the while was at a loss of words. He had been glad to see Kierra and he was more than thankful for her saving him from such an awkward situation but the flirty attitude and the kiss was causing his brain to overheat. He hadn't seen that coming but he had to assume it was all part of some clever plan.

He looked at the green eyed girl with caramel copper skin and stopped walking so that he could say thank you.

"I appreciate the help you gave me back there." He said before pulling out of her grasp and adjusting his glasses.

"Anytime." Kierra smiled, "Saw you were in trouble, so I came to your rescue."

"Heh." He chuckled a little bit, "You sure did..."

"Do you think they bought it? Do you think they think that you're over Ming-Ming?"

"I... don't know... but I'm not exactly over her."

"Pft. You don't have to be! We just need them to think you're over her until we find you a pretty little nerdette!"

"Nerdette?" He wondered what Kierra had meant by that but she didn't explain.

"Sorry if I scared you. I was just trying to show Daichi that you can get girls too."

Kenny nodded, "Like I said... thanks..."

"No problem." Kierra smiled, "Come on, let's get back to the living room." She held out her hand for him to take again and Kenny hesitated but took it.

He walked with Kierra down the hall, back towards the living room and all the while Kenny could feel his cheeks flushing. Just like he had anticipated, Kierra's kiss was nothing more than an act to show Daichi that he was over the whole Ming-Ming situation but for some reason he couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed.

Shaking the thought from his mind, the two blade engineers reentered the living room although Hilary and Tyson were still fighting it was back to work for the lot of them.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Tomorrow was now today and the Eldest Blade breaker was now debriefing the line up of female beybladers about the training they were about to endure.

Sure. There had been much talk of all this but now that everything they all had planned from springing into action it was time to get serious. Hiro walked past the four girls eyeing them as he spoke sternly.

"Don't think I'm being sexiest. I'm far from that but its evident there are lengthy gaps between your strengths and the boys' strengths." The Blue haired coach discontinued walking so that he could glance towards his team. "They're in a totally different weight class and are world renowned for their beyblading skills. They-"

"We get it Hiro! We're inferior!" Kat snapped, rolling her eyes and folding her arms as she cut Hiro's speech short. She was tried of his voice. It was early in the day and she was running on very little sleep.

Hiro paused as he glanced at Kat. He exhaled heavily before turning away and putting his back to the four females.

"That wasn't what I was implying." He began.

"Sure sounded like it." Toni commented, earning her a stern look from both Hiro and J-Dymez.

The Jamaican captain was pleased with the way Hiro had decided to word his speech but she was tried of the interruptions. They needed to get this show on the road.

"As I was saying. The boys are professionals but," Hiro turned on his heels so that he could eye the Sweet and Sour Candy bladers again, "After some endurance training you'll be just as professional... Not that I'm saying you aren't all very good now."

Hiro and J-Dymez shared a quick glance. He winked at her and made sure she heard that he wasn't putting her team down. He had just stated a reality but ended off what he needed to say with a compliment. She graciously accepted his kind words with a nod then came striding down the line of bladers. Her maroon eyes darted from Kai to Kat to Ray to Toni to Tyson to Naomi to Max to Torah then ended off with Daichi before stopping at the end of the line to eye them all again.

"We work on a very physical level when it comes to beyblading. We can hold our own against many opponents and have developed many strategies to help us advance in every battle we'd fought in but our techniques are still flawed." She said. "We are strong but we still lack the ability to get back on our feet regardless of whatever injuries we've sustain. You've all fought in rather serious battles and have gotten yourselves seriously hurt and some of you just kept fighting but running on adrenaline can only get us so far. This endurance training will increase your pain tolerance not to mention enhance your physical strength and speed."

J-Dymez glanced at her battle team once again before turning to stage to Ray and Kai, who'd lead the first half of the endurance training. Nodding at J-Dymez passing of command the two stepped forward but it was Kai who spoke first.

He didn't really have much to say since J-Dymez and Hiro said it all. He merely explained what they were about to do and why.

They'd be running laps. Simple but a very effective way of training for speed since they'd have weights wrapped around their ankles and arms.

"After that we'll try some of my personal endurance training." Ray said, taking over now. "You guys may not like what were about to do today but it's gotten us all pretty far.  
>"Yeah. You certainly got the bods to show for it." Torah smirked, causing the other girls to giggle slightly.<p>

Ray merely smirked at the comment but he nor Kai said anything about it.

"Let's get started." The slate haired blader said before sending the girls over to Tiky, Kierra, Max and Hilary. Those four were the ones that were going to equip the girl's with their training weights.

After all the preparation work was done and the complaining started, Ray led the group in a moderate jog that they took outside. Kai wasn't much of a runner, Max wasn't on training duty just yet and both Tyson and Daichi were still half asleep so it was the Chinese male's job to keep the girls in motion.

"You sure about this sergeant?" Tiky asked, coming up behind J-Dymez with Hilary, Tiky and Kenny at her sides.

J-Dymez quirked an eyebrow at the word sergeant but figured that Tiky was referring to her as such due to the way she had just spoken to the girls. She really did sound like she was part of the military. The brown haired coach smirked before placing a hand on her hip.

"What do you mean private?" J-Dymez responded, playing on Tiky's sergeant joke.

"I think Tiky's trying to say that maybe this isn't such a good idea to start off so... rough." Hilary began. She had felt like they were trying to do too much to fast but was always brushed off when she brought it up. She was just digging up old bones again with this one, "Do you really think the girls are ready for this endurance training? The boys can get pretty hectic."

"They'll be fine." She said, again brushing Hilary's worry off her shoulder, "If they complain give them more to complain about. Weakness isn't an option right now."

Hilary glanced at Kenny with worry but Tiky and Kierra didn't even seem to flinch. This was how J-Dymez operated under extreme pressure. It was just the way things were.

"Be ready to calculate how long it takes for them to get back and how we can improve their time. We'll do this everyday and watch to see how long and how much the girls improve, iight?"

"Umhmm." Both Tiky and Kierra hummed in unison before saluting the stern young woman and turning away to head back to Kierra and Kenny's laptops.

J-Dymez just rolled her eyes as she watched the rest of the team support trot off to do what they needed to do.

It wasn't long before Hiro found his way to J-Dymez's side.

"The heat's really coming down now." Hiro said. He removed the sunglasses he had from the top of his head and placed them over his eyes. He was preparing to go outside.

The Jamaican lass on his right nodded as she followed his lead out into the summer morning. It was slightly chilly and J-Dymez shuttered at the feeling of the morning air hitting her skin but shrugged it off soon after.

"Yeah..." he finally said. Looking around to see just how far her team had gone. They weren't even in sight.

"About the money those guys offered your team... what did you do with it?" He asked. Hiro looked over his shoulder, back into the abandoned warehouse as if making sure no one would overhear them. He stood up as straight as possible and wore his professional trainer demeanour as he spoke.

She glanced at him briefly before looking ahead to stare at nothing in particular. She was about to answer when a very sudden feeling of coldness swept over her that it made her shutter even worse than she had when she first stepped out.

J-Dymez gaze suddenly darted around as if trying to find something but she stopped as soon as she realized what she was doing. Looking for a ghost was she? She had known the cold air was what made her shiver but she couldn't help feeling a little, uneasy.

Turning back to head inside, Hiro followed her as she began speaking. He had noticed her shutter and sudden need to look around but let it slide since he knew she probably wouldn't explain why she had just done that.

"You mean what are we GOIN' to do with the money. Haven't used it yet."

He cocked an eyebrow as they stepped back into their rundown headquarters. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "Its a lot of money but we can't be actin' stupid with it. That's rainy day money."

Acknowledging her words Hiro let out a 'huh' sort of noise before glancing around for something to do.

"Want to make out in the back room?"

His joke brought a small smirk to J-Dymez face, "Easy Tiger. We're on the job."

"Well, if you just say yes I'll have another job for you." He commented before slyly striking her on the backside.

It caught the Maroon eyed woman off guard but all she did was freeze for a moment or two then went back to smirking.

"You nasty..." She said before walking away.

"You like it."

It wasn't until noon did Tyson and Daichi become alert but it still wasn't their time to contribute to the training. It was still Ray's time but Tyson, Daichi, Max, Kai as well as Kenny and Kierra all stayed close to monitor the exercising group.

"My feet... feel like I'm wearing fat people as shoes." Torah commented as she began feeling herself wobble. They were on to balance and Ray had them all standing one legged on thick wooden logs that were subject to rolling.

"Torah. Don't make me laugh. I'm going to fall." Kat commented back trying to find her inner peace so that she could keep herself upright but it was making it hard since she was now fighting back a chuckle.

"But I'm so tired!" The busty sienna skinned female whined.

Toni's eyes were shut but she began to smirk at Torah's whimpering. "Torah, don't mess us all up girl. If you need to quit then quit."

Torah blew her cheeks up like she was a pufferfish and sloped her eyebrows together in annoyance. She hated the feeling like she was the weakest link so to prove that she could hang in there like the rest she rebalanced herself and tried making sure she kept as still as possible.

"How long do we gotta do this!?" the blue eyed girl asked as she heard Ray's footsteps shuffle behind her.  
>"Until you find your proper centre of gravity. Once you do, balancing will be a breeze." Ray answered as he came up to walk in front on them. They're endurance was much more impressive than he had expected and their balance wasn't half bad but they still needed some work.<p>

"Yes, oh great Zen Master." Kat teased, causing the other girls on the logs to titter with laughter.

Ray allowed a smirk to come to his lips as he brought his pointing finger up and gently poked Kat in the shoulder. It happened in a flash but as soon as the Chinese blader's finger made contact with Kat, the raven haired female lost her balance and fell over her feet and nearly landed on her log.

"Hey! What the fuck!?" She snapped but it didn't remove the smirk from Ray's face.

"You weren't concentrating enough on your centre. If you were, you wouldn't have fallen."

The stony eyed nymph sneered and cursed under her breath as she brought herself up onto her feet before glaring at Ray who merely shrugged. The Blade breakers didn't joke around when it came to training.

Aggravated now, Kat got back up on her log and tried focusing again. Ray continued monitoring the girls but stopped at Naomi.

The girl with chocolate coloured skin had her eyes close and seemed to be in deep meditation but that didn't stop the golden eyed male from poking her in the same manner he had done to Kat. Naomi wobbled and tried keeping her balance but she fell as well.

Naomi's violet gaze opened in an instant and nearly teared up as she hit the ground. She forced back a feeble grumble before sheepishly looking up at Ray.

"I guess I didn't find my balance centre yet..." She admitted in a tiny voice.

"No, but you're almost there." He spoke, reaching out to help Naomi to her feet.

"Hey! How come you helped her up and not me!?" Kat snapped, drawing attention towards her then back at Ray.

Before he could even respond Torah had already jumped in with one of her comments.

"Because Naomi's his favourite." She teased, loud enough for the others to hear.

"True." Kai and Tyson both said, smirking at Ray who just glared at everyone.

"I don't have a favourite. Can we just concentrate?"

"Yeah. Concentrate on DAT ASS!" Tyson joked earning him chuckles from everyone else.

Hilary and Max made feeble attempts in telling the navy haired champion to stop teasing Ray but their laughter surely wasn't helping the situation.

Feeling embarrassed by everyone's constant poking of fun at her and Ray's relationship Naomi let go of Ray's hand as quickly as she could and got back on her log without another word.

"You know, you guys are getting really annoying with this."

"Ooh." Kai began, using a very mocking tone, "Kitty can dish it out but can't take it."

"Hey. I'm all for jokes but I'm trying to work here."

"Me-OW." Tyson chirped in.  
>"Shut up, Tyson."<p>

There were a few more giggles from the peanut gallery but it wasn't long until Kierra and Kenny hopped up onto their feet to hand their data management shift over to Hilary and Tiky. They told Kai to watch the laptop while they headed back inside the warehouse to retrieve Hilary and Tiky who were currently discussing strategy and how to enhance effective battle takedowns.

The walk seemed much longer than it really was Kenny thought as he walked along side Kierra. He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes but quickly averted his gaze back down to the ground as he felt himself get worked up for no reason.

He'd began feeling this way every time he and Kierra got really close. Every time she was close enough to touch, Kenny felt a bit like he was getting motion sickness. His stomach suddenly dropped and he knew this probably wasn't a good sign.

Since she had kissed him yesterday, Kierra had begun popping into his head more frequently and that seemed to bother Kenny for a couple of reasons. One; he didn't want to feel like he was getting over Ming-Ming this quickly. Two; Kierra was just like Ming-Ming, if he was indeed crushing on her now, he knew it would just be the same and Three; she was someone he had to work alongside ALL DAY.

He didn't want to bother dealing with his feelings when he really needed to focus on collecting data. It was just out of the question.

Finally, they reached the door to the warehouse but the brunette suddenly swore that he had just seen something moving over by some overgrown shrubbery. He paused to stare at it but Kierra caught his attention and told him to hurry inside so that they could have their break.

Blushing, Kenny nodded at her before taking one quick glance towards the shrubs again. He was beginning to feel that his mind was becoming rather fickle and couldn't set itself on anything for too long nowadays.

Forgetting about what he thought he'd seen, Kenny and Kierra entered the warehouse, handed duty over to Hilary and Tiky before allowing them to wrap up with their planning. The two brown haired females headed outside and Kierra turned to Kenny.

"You have any of your mom's noodles. I'm marvin!"

"Marvin?"

Kierra began to laugh, "You know! Marvin! Like... starving!" She giggled more as Kenny began blushing again.

"Oh, um... yeah. I have some in my bag..." he notified before walking over to where he had discarded this things. The short blade engineer rummaged though his belongings before pulling out a bento box.

"AH! It smells so good! I forgot to pack lunch and the others won't give me any of theirs!" The green eyed Trinidadian and Jamaican girl said as she rubbed her stomach.

"Heh." Kenny breathed, laughing a little at Kierra's oddly cute childish behaviour, "Makes sense. You really work up an appetite after training... which you actually need to burn off so you don't gain any extra weight... how did you forget your lunch?" He questioned. Kenny separated the chopsticks before pulling the top of the bento box open.

Kierra shrugged as she took the chopsticks and began stabbing at some of the food in the bento box. She didn't say a word before shoving some tempura jumbo shrimp into her mouth and chewing it with great relish. Her eyes lit up as soon as she swallowed.

"SO TASTY!" she beamed and was about to dig in some more but came to her senses and remembered that it wasn't her lunchbox. She offered the chopsticks back to Kenny but the kind-hearted male just smiled and shook his head, telling her to eat her fill if she was really that hungry.

"REALLY?!" Kierra began beaming again, "You're such a sweetheart!"

"I've been told..." He admitted, still smiling.

Kierra ate another tempura jumbo shrimp than started picking away the fried vegetables so that she could get to the noodles underneath them. She shovelled some of those in her mouth as well and half way through a noodle slurp the ebony haired beauty looked at Kenny.

Kierra finished what she had in her mouth before grabbing some food with the chopsticks to feed Kenny with. The brunette was caught off guard when he suddenly saw Kierra shoving food into his face so he back away, unsure of what she was doing but as soon as she stated that her intentions were pure he eased back into place but was still reluctant to have her feed him.

Wasn't that something only couples did?

Finally forcing him to open up, Kierra place the food in Kenny's mouth and told him to chew and that she'd owe him for sharing his bento box with her. He chewed and swallowed before jokingly asking if she'd be the one cooking.

"Why not!? I'll make sure to cook something awesome!"

He gulped a little bit. "No offence Kierra but... I've heard of your cooking."

"Hey! It's really not that bad!"

"Have you eaten any of your own food?"

"... Nevermind."

He took her pause as a no and began smiling. He wasn't sure why he was smiling but he was.

The two beyblade engineers ate the lunch cheerfully and once finishing, Kenny packed the bento box away and got to his feet as Kierra announced that she was going back outside to relieve Tiky and Hilary from monitor duty.

"Well if we work as a union we still have..." He paused to check his watch for the time, "Thirty-two minutes of lunch..."

She laughed, "Maybe I'll wait till our half an hour is up then!"

The two shared a warm smile but went back out into the afternoon sun to spend the rest of their lunch hour in daylight.

As they headed back to their group Kenny went back to that awkward feeling he had felt as he walked with Kierra. It was official now. He knew it and knew he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

He had suggested a union like lunch hour for a reason. He wanted more time, and the fact that he had done this made the conclusion very clear.

He was crushing on Kierra Green.

Sunset and it was time to retire for the day. The training had been successful but it was tiresome and the four beybladers on the Sweet and Sour Candies were so exhausted that they could barely walk on their own.

It took some of the Blade breakers to help them all get back to their house but that didn't stop their helpful teammates from speaking some words of praise.

Hiro complimented the girls for going all day with barely any complaints. Max had finally gotten around to some physical defensive training around four or five o'clock and complimented the girls on their ability to learn everything he taught so quickly. Ray and Tyson said a few words of praise as well and the girls were started to get a little big headed as they all trotted up the front steps.

"That's how we roll boys. Ride or die chicks." Toni said, pounding her first with Torah and Kat who agreed whole heartedly. "Gangsta bitches up in this house."

They piled into the Sweet and Sour Candies household and instantly went for the living room. upon finding any available seat the group flopped down and began taking some well deserved rest.

"Ugh. I think I have blisters on my blisters." Kat grumbled as she rolled over on the floor, sprawling out and getting as comfortable as she could.

"I think I sprained my back," Torah whimpered as she rested against Max whole slung an arm around her.

"It's because your tits got too heavy while training."

"Shut your face, Kat."

Tired chuckles rippled through the group but silence soon overcame them as the full effect of being out since dawn began effecting them.

In no time, everyone was out cold.

It was well into the night now when Toni finally cracked her forest green eyes open. Since everyone was still asleep she was going to assume they would all be camping in the living room tonight and that the rush for the bathroom in the morning would be ridiculous.

Feeling the need to get a quick shower in and change her clothes Toni wormed her way out of Tyson's affectionate sleeping hold and smiled down at the navy haired male as he slept. His snoring was at a minimal tonight and she was grateful for that.

Silently creeping out into the hall way the Guyanese gal started heading for the staircase when it happened again. The doorbell went off and she froze. It went off a couple more times, sounding urgent and this actually made her freak out a little bit.

Toni was never really one to get scared very easily but this was just too freaky.

Running back into the living room she woke Tyson abruptly and ended up waking a few others around them. Tyson sat up, as well as J-Dymez, Max and Hilary who ended up shaking Kai awake.

The group looked towards Toni with tired eyes as they all silently asked what the commotion was. She told them about the doorbell ringing and in a flash, J-Dymez was on her feet and making her way to the door.

She was hoping to catch whomever was playing this sick practical joke but of course when she threw the door open no one was outside. The party of six collected at the front door as J-Dymez angrily stepped out onto the porch.  
>"Show yourselves!" She yelled. "Do you sick bastards think we won't catch you!? Come out you cowards!" Her words were only met with the silence of the street.<p>

There was a long pause before the Maroon eyed female grumbled loudly.

"What's going on?" Hilary asked, rubbing at her sleepy brown eyes and clinging on to Kai, mostly because she had been attached to him the whole time they had been sleeping.

"I don't know whose fuckin' wit us but they better fuckin' stop before shit gets hood on this street." J-Dymez answered, not being very specific in answering Hilary's question. Just as she turned to head back inside and slam the door behind her J-Dymez noticed a piece of paper on the welcome mat.

Picking it up she looked at it and realized it was a note. She froze as she read it in her head.

'Scared yet?'

"BULLSHIT!" Kat snapped, slamming both her fists on the tabletop.

They had decided to leave the issue until everyone was awake but now that everyone was, J-Dymez was now addressing the note left on their doorstep with the rest of the blended team.

Taking their eyes off of Kat and turning to glance at one another the Jackson-Dubois sisters exchanged looks of worry before looking at J-Dymez.

"Janielle... this is serious. We never had them leave a note before..." Naomi said.

"All they've done is ring the doorbell but now shits gettin' scary..." Torah finished off.

Tiky and Kierra nodded in agreement.

This had been Hilary's first time in experiencing this but she agreed with Torah as well. Having someone ring your doorbell in the middle of the night and leaving a note asking if you were scared was something only seen in horror movies. It was almost bone chilling.

"So... someone's rung the doorbell but never left notes until now?" Kai asked, making sure he fully grasped the situation. Once J-Dymez nodded he paused and leaned back into his chair. He folded his arms before make a sarcastic face, "You're all freaking out over nothing. Someone's just trying to mess with you."

"But who?" Tiky asked, her eyes staring at Kai as if to coax the answer out of him, "Who would do something like this to scare us? We haven't done anything."

"Anything that people on this street know about..." Toni added.

"It's not someone on this street, I'll tell you that much." Kai said, causing the entire household to turn to him.

"Then who...?" Kierra questioned, gripping the hands of the two people closest to her.

Kai shrugged. He didn't have the exact answer but he knew whomever was doing this had to be someone the girls knew.

"Think about it. Who'd want to mess with you guys?"

The room went silent as everyone looked around and glanced at one another. The silence was almost heavy in feeling and deafening in sound until J-Dymez came across the epiphany. Just as her eyes narrowed with realization so did Kat's and Toni's.  
>"They sure got some balls." Kat spat as she stood up with aggravation.<p>

"You've figured out whose doing this... who left the note?" Naomi asked, looking towards the three leaders of the S.A.S.C team.

"How could we be so stupid?!" Toni snapped before running her hands through her short spiked hair. "We shoulda known. Its something D.J. and his fucked up crew would do. Those bastards know where we live."

"D.J.?" Upon hearing the name, Torah found herself to be annoyed just as much as Toni and Kat was now. Angrily folding her arms Torah huffed and grumbled D.J.s name again in pure vexation.

"Whose D.J.?" Daichi questioned looking around the group.

"The biggest pain in the ass since hemorrhoids." J-Dymez answered kicking one of the kitchen cupboards.

"Are you talking about that guy that talked to us at the elevator?" Tyson questioned, just recalling the situation.

J-Dymez shook her head, "The ass that was talking was Jay-Yu but their all part of the same group. Should known those nutsack rejects wouldn't take no for an answer."

"What do we do now...?" Tiky asked as she as well as everyone else waited for J-Dymez to give an order.

The Sweet and Sour Candies coach ran her fingers through her hair quickly before glaring out the kitchen window and crumpling the note in her hand.

"We could go and smack the taste out their mouths but that won't solve it. We know its them now so we don't have a damn thing to fear anymore. All we need to do is keep on trainin' and beyblading until we win the U.B.T. They can try and get us on their team all they damn well want but we're not joinin' them. If we have to face those bastards again, we'll crush them so damn bad they'll have to dig themselves out the holes we buried them in at the stadium."

Violent yet inspirational. As were most of J-Dymez speeches but her teammates nodded while the Blade breakers exchanged glances. A few of them had opinions to voice but they kept them to themselves.

J-Dymez determination and very pissy mood would beat down any concerns they'd voice.

"Alright... but lets make one thing clear. We've come to many agreement terms but I have one more." Hiro said as he held up one finger and caught J-Dymez attention.

The two coaches locked eyes and the pale-bronze skinned female tilted her head slightly to the right as she waited for Hiro to voice his terms of agreement.

"If those guys start trouble don't fight them."

"But-" Toni was about to screech a protest since she was all for going into a brawl with D.J., Jay-Yu and whomever else they had under their command but Hiro rose his hand and silenced her so that he could finish.

"Don't fight them..."

"Let us do it." Tyson said, jumping in. Hiro didn't say anything else because that's exactly what he was going to say.

Usually Hiro was the first to deal with a conflict by being rational and doing anything by talking it out but this was a different matter. No group of infantile males was going to mess with the Candies. Not on their watch.

Smirking and offering his fist out for a pound, Ray nodded and agreed to what Tyson said as they bro-fisted. "No one is messing with you girls on our watch."


End file.
